


The Stars Above

by hipsterhufflepuff



Series: The Stars Above Series [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Cannon until Season 3, Canon-Typical Violence, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Electrocution, F/M, Family Dynamics, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mind Manipulation, Mind Meld, Platonic Relationships, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death, Well...I Don't Want to Say Death, i don't want to spoil anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-03-11 17:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 64,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13529286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hipsterhufflepuff/pseuds/hipsterhufflepuff
Summary: Marisol McClain's brother has been declared dead for a little over a year. So has Colleen Holt's daughter, on top of her missing family members of two years. The school and the rest of the world may be willing to write them off as delinquents and move on, but these two ladies will go to the ends of the universe to find the truth.If it takes battling an alien race and stopping a 10,000 year regime to find their families, then so be it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> Couple of things to note:
> 
> 1\. I am only human, I am a college student who is quite involved. I may not get time to post on a strict schedule, but I will try to update at least once a week, maybe twice a week.
> 
> 2\. I don't typically write fandom ships (canon or not) into my fics, so I will try to keep it as open ended as possible with enough hints that everybody is happy. 
> 
> 3\. I know OC's can be "cringey", and this is probably not a new idea, but it is a story that I work hard on and I don't typically post what I write. If you don't like it, please don't be mean, just exit out of the story.
> 
> With that being said, please feel free to leave kudos or a comment!

_One Year Ago_

A shrill ring disturbed the quiet of the night.

Marisol froze in place, the razor poised mid-shave above her calf resting on the toilet seat, hair wrapped in a towel on the top of her head and dressed only in a fuzzy blue bathrobe. The sink continued to run water and her iPod played softly in the background as she strained her ears to listen to any noises outside of the bathroom besides her sleeping family. That sounded a lot like the doorbell, but everyone in her neighborhood was sound asleep. No one would be up for hours, even the earliest of risers. Technically, she should be fast asleep too, but having a large family that used up the hot water like it was their job and being on her college sleep schedule, this was her prime hour to bathe, do homework, and just be by herself in a house where it was nearly impossible to be alone.

Shrugging, she turned back to her task, humming along to the song playing softly. Just as she was shaving the shrill noise startled her, slicing right beneath her knee.  
“Shit shit shit.” She swore quietly as she started bleeding, wincing at the stinging sensation accompanying. Marisol wadded up some toilet paper and tried to stave the blood dripping down her leg. She glared at the door, as if it was the one who caused her to bleed. Who the hell would be at their door at three in the morning?  
She fell quiet again as she heard footsteps outside the bathroom.  
_Please don’t be a niece or a nephew, please don’t let one of them hear me swear._ Her eldest brother's kids were just at the age where they could start parroting what they said. The last thing that she wanted was for one of them to start swearing and, since she was the only one in her family that swore like a sailor, being blamed. Luckily for her, it seemed that the owner of the footsteps were more concerned with whomever was ringing their doorbell at three in the morning.

She heard the deep muttering of her father, telling her mother to go back to sleep, but judging by the pair of hurried footsteps that followed him down her momma hadn’t listened. It was probably a neighbor who needed some help with the furnace or something that her papa could easily fix, nothing out of the usual. She should have finished up what she was doing, bandage her knee and head to bed, pretend that she never heard, but something in her gut tugged her towards the door. Unwrapping her damp hair, she quietly exited the bathroom, listening intently at whomever was at the door.

Marisol leaned over the banister, far enough to see her parents long shadows against the porch light hearing another unknown voice fill the hallway, someone standing stiff in the doorway. He was talking lowly, a very distinct accent that her parents might not understand clearly. Though they both understood and spoke English like any natives, being so groggy and the heavy accent might be throwing them off. She decided to reveal herself, descending down the rickety stairs to offer some linguistic support, despite being dressed in only her bathrobe.

Her mama turned when she heard Marisol's steps, freezing on the last stair. Her stoic mother, the one who managed everything from finances to teenage hormones without ever breaking a sweat or forming a grey hair, was quietly sobbing into her hands.  
"Mama?" Marisol asked quietly.  
"Los siento, siento." Her mother turned into her papa's chest, small wails now evident. Her papa held her, silent tears of his own gently trekking down his cheeks.

She turned to the man who had caused the sudden grief, waiting for an explanation. He was dressed in a dark grey uniform, perhaps some sort of formal wear, but it wasn't from a military branch the she recognized.  
"Can I help you?" Marisol asked in plain English. He fiddled with a floppy beret in his hands, his face passive of any emotions.  
"Ms McClain, I am a Senior Officer Montgomery from the Galaxy Garrison, the..."  
"I know what it is, my brother goes there." She interrupted, crossing her arms in front of her. Though it wasn't entirely his fault, she wanted to know what he had said to cause her parents to become so upset.  
"I'm afraid that this is about you brother, Lance McClain. There was a malfunction in the flight simulator, unfortunately Lance and two other students were caught in the middle of the wreckage."

"What?" Marisol froze again, dread creeping up from her stomach to her chest and squeezing tightly. She didn't understand the details about his speech, hung up on the few words that mattered.  
Brother. Malfunction. Wreckage.

Hands gently grasped her shoulders and arms, offering comfort, but her brain still hadn't caught up with the words.  
"He...malfunction... What?" She stammered out.  
"The Galaxy Garrison offers its deepest regrets. I've come to return his possessions as well as give the family a form of compensation, although it will not replace the life of you loved one." It felt like a punch to the gut. This man didn't care about the fact that they had just lost someone, he was just there to give the news and their compensation. Marisol's mother choked back a sob as the man offered a simple brown box wrapped in plastic, hardly bigger than a shoe box. Her papa took it without a word, looking down at the meager box with an unreadable expression. How could they fit an entire person's life in such a small box?  
"If the Galaxy Garrison can offer any form of assistance, our office number is inside of the envelope. We deeply apologize for your loss." He pulled his hat back on, gave a stiff salute, then disappeared into the night, as if he hadn't just dropped an atomic bomb on their life.

Her mother's cries were much louder now as Marisol hurried to shut the door. Her papa embraced his wife, the box dropping to the floor in order to comfort her. Marisol covered her mouth with a shaking hand as she leaned against the door for support.  
This has to be a nightmare. She has had these kinds of thoughts before, with Lance being across the country and wanting to go to outer space, anything could go wrong. He might blow up in a rocket launch, crash on a moon like those astronauts from a year ago, Hell, he could have just been crossing the street and been hit by a car. She never believed that this kind of news would come, and so close to his graduation year. He hadn't even gotten a chance to live his dream, and now he wouldn't ever.

Hurried footsteps tromped down the stairs, her two older siblings looking very concerned to why mama was crying. Her papa was busy with her mother, so she took the burden instead.

"Alex, are the kids asleep?"  
"Yes, is everyone alright?" He asked blearily, looking between all of them to try to figure out what was happening.  
"No, Lance is..." Her voice choked. She couldn't say that one word, if she did, then it would be real. She didn't want it to be true. That her brother was never coming home again.  
"Something happened at school." They looked at her, then to the box still sitting on the floor, connecting the dots themselves.  
Both sibling's faces fell as they finally understood the news, of what had happened to their younger brother. "Madré de Dios." Sasha muttered, running her hands through her hair.  
"Don't tell the kids. Wait until tomorrow. We'll call the rest of the family then too. But we need to process this first." How she was being so calm baffled her, perhaps it was because she refused to believe it yet. Marisol quietly scooped up the box, feeling as if she was carrying the weight of the world instead, and made her way upstairs, each step forced the idea to to true.

He's gone.  
He's never coming home.  
Lance is dead.

***

The McClain house was hardly ever quiet, always filled with music from one of the girls, laughter from the kids as they played with the neighbor's kids, or her papa watching some sports channel on full blast. Even at night the distant sounds of the ocean at the end of the block, multiple fans blowing at full blast to stave off the humid Florida air, and the chatter of the members of the house no matter what time of day, but there was a first time for everything.

The house was bursting at the seams with well wishers and somber family members. They had all flown in from across the country, even her grandparents came up from Cuba to stay with them for the wake. Some kids Lance had grown up with in school and around the neighborhood showed up, paying their respects with flowers and letters. Lance had always been the person to make friends wherever he went. It was no surprise that so many people had shown to pay their respects.

The funeral itself was awful. The weather should never be nice on a day of a funeral, blue skies and sunshine beaming down on all of them as they huddled in the cemetery. Crying family members weeped over an empty casket (apparently there was not much left of him, so the Garrison didn't even send the cremation remains), a preacher telling them that he was in a better place where he could look down on all of them with his signature smile. It rang empty to her, clenching her hands tightly in her lap as the pastor spoke. The worst part was her speech. Her family put the eulogy to her; no one else knew Lance like she did, or those that did were in no shape to speak, so it was left to Marisol. She talked about the good times - surfing and sun bathing on Varadero Beach, pulling pranks on the other siblings and cousins (she even got a few wet chuckles with her stories), but mostly, she spoke of his big heart, compassionate and caring for others, and his desire to know more, especially of what lay beyond their skies. It was wooden and choppy from holding back her own tears, but she made it through without making a complete fool of herself.

Grief had a way of manifesting itself in different ways; some like her mother cried over scrapbooks of her youngest son, wailing over how he shouldn't have been taken away so suddenly, how young he was and he had so much to live for. Her grandmother and a few other relative were crying as well, praying over rosaries for some kind of answer from God as to why He took their family away. Others, like her father and older brother were outside smoking cigars and nursing beers, not quite ready to confront the issue. Marisol was in limbo, at a standstill on the couch surrounded by other somber relatives, not quite running from the issue but also not accepting it yet.

She picked at her black nail polish that she had put on for the occasion, staring at the picture of her brother that rested on the mantle, grinning widely in his standardized Galaxy Garrison orange and white uniform. The photo had a rosary wrapped around it and dozens of flowers resting before it. It was as if he were there with them, about to crack a joke that would make them laugh and roll their eyes simultaneously. 

After her nails had been picked clean, pulling at some hangnails that she had, she needed something to do, somewhere to go, or she might lose it right there. Murmuring to an nearby aunt that she was going to take a walk, getting a tearful pat on the arm and a nod in return, Marisol was out the door, the night air still holding the warmth of day. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her dark dress, scuffing up her nice wedges by kicking loose pebbles down the street and out of sight. She wandered aimlessly through the suburb, heading to a place where she knew she could breathe.

The roar of the ocean brought her to her senses again, hardly realizing she had reached her destination. The sand was cold as it crept into her shoes, the grainy and hard shells getting stuck in the insides of her shoes. Her mother would scold her later for wrecking her new shoes, if she had stopped crying, that is. She moved down the beach, light footed after years of living near this beach, she knew it like the back of her hand. She had been on this beach since before she could remember, swimming and surfing at a young age, navigating the water came naturally to her. The tide was high and the sea was choppy, but she wasn’t worried, she could handle whatever the ocean threw at her.

She stood at the edge of the water, the salty waves lapping at her shoes and feet, sinking deeper and deeper into the sand. Perhaps it would swallow her up, leaving just the roar of the sea and the dark peace overtake her. Marisol took a deep breath and looked up to the inky night sky, seeing the constellations blown across and not a cloud in sight. It was as if Lance were controlling the sky, wanting his sister to see the marvelousness of space, even if he couldn’t anymore. Blurry memories of late nights when they would sneak out of the house to just look out at the stars, they felt so large that they could have jumped up and grabbed them like fireflies. Sometimes the two of them would talk, insecurities and dreams that only the other and the sky would ever know.

Lance and her got along like a house on fire. There was four years separating them, but both of them were cunning and knew how to push the other siblings buttons and sly enough to get away with it. Like many kids, Marisol was always enthralled by space and stars, of what could possibly be beyond their tiny home. Her and Lance shared that dream, but instead of just staring at them, he wanted to be among the stars. By age ten, he could name over a hundred stars in their galaxy, knew all of the constellations, and often got into debates with adults on what lay on the other side of blackholes.

That's why he worked so hard in school to get the scholarship to the Galaxy Garrison, to have a chance to fly up there with the stars. He cried with joy when he actually got in, all of them did. It made the whole family proud, placing his photo on the mantle and bringing up the "my son is a space pilot" to whomever would listen, even the bagger at the local grocery store.

Marisol ran her fingers roughly underneath her eyes, wiping away any tears that dared to shed. God, if only he had just gone to regular college like her and all of their other siblings, been a normal student, maybe she wouldn't have been sitting on the beach cursing those burning suns for something they had no part in. He was going to get to space, even if it killed him. She glared at the stars, as if it would give her peace of mind, until she felt chilled to the bone, until they blurred together and it became almost too painful to look at. When the stars wouldn't give her any answers she shook her head, shaking of the sand that clung to her dress, and retreated back home. She didn’t even notice how long she had been gone until the tide started to recede and the birds started singing. Marisol wiped her face clear of any grief. She had to be strong for her family. For Lance.

But why couldn't he just have stayed?


	2. Chapter 2

_Present Day_

***

Marisol rubbed her face as she stood in line. The steamer screamed in the background and blenders made cold drinks in the busy coffee stop in the university center. Televisions playing the news, something about strange debris found on the moon, was dulled by the noise of students studying and catching up with friends, worried about the upcoming finals and what they were going to do over Christmas break.

She stifled a yawn behind her hand. She was going to need at least a triple shot of expresso in her latte this morning, or there was no way she was making it through her 9am lecture without dozing off. Frankly she couldn't care about the class, it took everything in her to not skip it. It was just a blowoff class, something to get credit so she could graduate. She was two semesters from graduating, and senioritis was already kicking in. She could have been spending the time sleeping in, or looking for full time jobs for her career, (not wanting to clean out fish tanks at the Aquarium in Miami and telling delinquent children off for trying to throw water at each other for the rest of her working life), than learn about the history of cave art. 

Her name was called by the barista, sighing dejectedly as she saw the extra ‘L’ on the end of her name. It happened so frequently, she didn't even bother correcting it anymore. She sipped the coffee, feeling it burn going down as she started across the room towards the building where her class was, already counting down the minutes until she was done for the day, silently running through a list of things she needed to do:

Do Biology homework, not too hard, it was her favorite subject. 

Finish resume and application for graduate school, a little harder, hating how her cursor blinked on the empty page reminding her of how boring her life was. 

Pay rent, hard because it sucked watching her bank account go from big to small in just one payment, and she had just gotten her Thanksgiving bonus too... 

Sleep? If she got the chance...

"Ms McClain?"  
She paused for a moment, the boy behind her passing her with a glare for stopping in the middle of hallway. She shook her head and continued walking, figuring it was just her hearing things in the din of the common place.  
“Marisol McClain!” She stopped suddenly, now knowing it wasn’t just her imagination, not recognizing the voice that called her name. Her few friends were in either class or across campus, and she wasn't popular enough that random people knew her name. She turned around, looking down to see a slight woman, holding a messenger bag close to her chest, as if fearing it would be pried away from her at any given moment, sitting at one of the tables. The woman didn't stand out in anyway, if she hadn't spoken up, Marisol would have just overlooked her as another student or a professor. 

She pushed the short, light brown hair out of her face, looking almost hopeful as Marisol regarded her.  
"I was hoping to catch you here.” She said confidently, which was funny coming from the meek looking woman.  
"How do you know my name?" Marisol asked, briefly wondering if she had some survey she wanted her to fill out.  
“The student registry, and the fact that the barista just called it out." The woman nodded at the coffee place behind them. 

"Am I supposed to know you?" It sounded snotty, hearing the chiding voice of her mother in the back of her head, but the woman didn't seemed bothered by it.  
"Nope,” She shook her head with a smile on her face. “In fact, there is almost no reason for me to be here, but we have some... commonalities."  
"Like what?" She questioned slowly, starting to regret not ignoring her. Why had this stranger tracked her down? What could they possibly have in common?  
"Sit down, finish your drink." The woman kept on smiling, ushering towards her table. “I have something that you might be interested in.”

Part of Marisol wanted to use her class as an excuse to leave this eccentric woman behind, but then again, she really didn't want to hear the lecture on cave paintings in Europe. Worse case, she leaves the woman if the conversation was weird and get a tardy.  
"Alright." Marisol shrugged, letting the woman guide her to the empty table. 

Marisol drank her coffee slowly, watching as the woman pulled out her laptop and a large manilla envelope from the bag, setting them on the table with the upmost care.  
“So, I should properly introduce myself. I’m Colleen Holt, and I was hoping that you could help me out, you’re basically my last hope.” She shook her hand formally.  
“What can I do for you?” Marisol asked.  
“I want you to help me find my daughter.” She fumbled in the envelope, pulling out a photo of a younger girl. She couldn’t have been older than 16 years old, hugging a boy that looked nearly identical to her and the woman sitting across from Marisol. They were posed in front of some sort of a ship, like the one Lance had...  
_No, don't think of that now._ She shoved that thought to the furthest corner of her mind, where all other thoughts of her youngest sibling went now-a-days.  
“I’m sorry, I think this is a matter for the police, not some random college kid you found.” Marisol was going to dispose of her now empty cup, wondering why this woman would approach her rather than the authorities in the first place, but then the woman said something that made her stop in her tracks, blood freezing for a moment.

“She’s with your brother Lance.”

Marisol turned around slowly, partially in disbelief, but also feeling anger rise in her belly.  
“Mi hermano—my brother— is dead. He died in a flight simulation at school over a year ago.” She stuttered, trying her hardest to keep her voice low, the last thing she wanted was to cause a scene in such a public place, even though she really wanted to go off on this lady, not only for knowing about her family, but bringing up such a sensitive subject in such an abrupt manner. Marisol clenched her fist, the cardboard of her cup creaking. She turned around, wanting to drop it in the garbage before telling this woman off. 

“Wait, please don’t go.” The woman begged, stretching out her hands towards the younger woman, pleading for her to stay. “I really need your help.”  
“How is my _dead_ brother going to help you find your child?” She said the word with extra emphasis, as if that would change her mind.  
“Because he isn’t dead.”  
What the hell was this woman on? “The Galaxy Garrison sent a man to my house—“  
“The Galaxy Garrison lied. They wanted to cover up what actually happened so it didn’t tarnish their record.” Colleen Holt stated bluntly, eyes hardening at the mention of the school.  
“Three dead students doesn’t hurt their record?” Marisol was becoming enraged, all of the lies coming out of this woman’s mouth, it was amazing that Marisol was even still listening to her. 

“Look, I can tell that I upset you, but I really need you. Everyone else tells me I’m delusional and need to let my grief go, but something is off about this whole incident.” She pulled back the envelope and pulled out a pad of paper. She quickly scribbled something down, slid it across the table to her. “Please? Look into this, if you are as smart as your record says you are, then you’ll see something wrong too. If you do, please contact me, I know we can solve this together. If not, then you can forget that this ever happened, I won't bother you agaon.” Marisol looked down at the neat, loopy handwriting on the paper. She raised her head to ask what it meant, the woman was gone, as if she was never there.

Marisol gathered her cup again, and with slight hesitation, snatched the paper with a phone number and one word;

 _Kerberos_.

***

Marisol snuck into the lecture fifteen minutes late, but luckily the professor was too busy pointing out the similarities between two blurry photos to notice her. The person next to her allowed her to copy what she had missed, but after five minutes of listening to what the cavemen would use to paint on cave walls, her mind started to wander and the yawning became more frequent. She started to use her computer in unproductive ways. The only benefit to her horrible lecture was that it was open technology, most student taking notes on their laptops. Usually it would be on her phone scrolling down Twitter or Instagram to see what her friends back home were up to, but the conversation with the mysterious woman kept bothering her, no matter how many times she tried to shove it away.

How did she find out so much about her family? Why did she need Marisol? How was she, some college age girl, this woman’s last hope? The nagging voice was insistent to the point where doodling or social media couldn't distract her.

With a dejected sigh. Marisol pulled the note out of her purse for spelling, opening a new incognito tab to see what the woman wanted Marisol to look into.

The first thing that popped up was a link about a computer network authorization, but it didn’t make sense to her, so she went to the next suggestion in the google bar, which added MOON to the word. The first link was a Wikipedia article explaining that Kerberos was one of Pluto’s four moons, one of the furthest points of the Galaxy. Surely this woman didn’t want to give her a lesson on the planets and their moons, so Marisol scrolled down. The next link, and nearly every link after that was about a flight to the mentioned moon over a year ago. She clicked on one titled  
**FAILED KERBEROS MISSION DUE TO PILOT ERROR**

Within the article Marisol found out how the woman was involved. The mission included a man named Sam and his son Matt, both sharing the last name and looks of the woman. The other person, the pilot that was given fault for the mission, was a boy around her age. For some reason, the stranger seemed vaguely familiar. She shook her head and continued to read about how the Galaxy Garrison, the ones who launched them, lost contact almost two years ago, declaring it a failure soon afterwords. There were still no answers to how or why. She kept on clicking other news links, trying to find more information but everything was repeated and vague. She even ventured to the official Galaxy Garrison website, but the site was scrubbed of any evidence that there was a mission. 

“You’re looking into the Kerberos mission?” A quiet voice nearly made her jump out of her seat, but everyone was too dazed or focused on the pictures to notice her.  
She whipped around, closing her laptop slightly as she looked at the boy behind her. She couldn’t help the scowl on her face as the biggest _bobo _she knew smirking at her.__

____

“What it to you?”  
“Jesus, I was just asking, no need to bite off my head.” The boy, Donald or Dylan or something like that, gave a quiet laugh, holding his hands up in surrender. “I just didn’t take you for a conspiracy kind of person.”  
Marisol looked back at her screen, seeing that she had somehow stumbled onto a conspiracist page in her investigation.  
“You don’t know me, you just kick the back of my chair enough to annoy me.” The boy was a nuisance, always asking for her number or out for coffee, but he had a record that proceeded him, and was not going to be the poor unfortunate soul to get caught up in that mess. She assumed he had a crush on her and was trying to be cool, but he was just being rude.  
“Either way, I think it’s cool. If you thought the moon landing conspiracy was a big deal, wait until you get into that catastrophe.”  
“How do you mean?” As much as she wanted to ignore the boy, something inside, the same voice that lead her in this search, pushed her to at least hear him out.

“Well.” He leaned forward over the desktop, glancing to see if the professor noticed, but the professor was too busy raving about a certain carving found in Arizona. “I have an uncle who works at Galaxy Garrison, and he says there was no sign of pilot error, on or near Kerberos.”  
"Your uncle said that?” She quirked her eyebrow. “That was probably classified information, if it was true, why would he tell you and risk his job?"  
"One too many rum and cokes over Thanksgiving break. I was the only one actually listening."  
“Seriously?”  
“Deadly, the GG scrambled to cover it up, not wanting to ruin their perfect reputation.” His words rung in her head to what Colleen had told her. Maybe it was a coincidence?  
“Okay, say I believe your drunk uncle, who should probably be fired for revealing that information. If it wasn’t pilot error, then what was it?”  
“Aliens.” He said so matter-of-fact that she nearly bursted out laughing in the middle of lecture. But he kept a straight face, causing Marisol to cock her head at him.

“Aliens?”  
“Yup. It’s also what happened with those students a year ago.”  
Marisol ground her teeth, wanting to cuss him out for such an accusation, but just to play it out, she went along with it, feeling a headache form from all of her anger today.  
“So aliens abducted three scientists on a exploration mission, plus random three students, and Galaxy Garrison wants to cover that up? Isn’t their mission about exploring the universe and finding new life or something?  
“Yes, but if people found out, it would get messy. Our race can hardly tolerate each other, how would finding out that there are more thing to ruin help us?”

He did have a point there.

“You know, we could always discuss this more over a cup of coffee, maybe a bite to eat?” He raised his eyebrows, Marisol remembering that she actually didn’t like this boy.  
“I already had my fill, thanks.” She forced a smile and pretended like she was paying attention to the lecture, but her head was spinning from all that she had learned. 

The logical part of her immediately told her that the boy behind her was obviously mistaken and spent way too much time on Reddit, but another, more whimsical part of her, toyed with the possibility. She remembered it was a popular debate at the McClain household, with Lance on the ‘Aliens are Real’ side and her father on the ‘You Spend too Much Time on the Internet’ side. Eventually it was forbidden to even mention the word, just to avoid the argument and save everyone the headache. 

Now, with this Colleen woman approaching her and the guy giving her information, she was beginning to question what she actually knew about aliens. 

***

The phone rang for what seemed like ages. 

“Hello?” A tired voice picked up eventually after three calls.

“Why is Galaxy Garrison trying to cover up not one, but two incidents that happened with their people? And why those people in particular? Why not give out more information on the Kerberos mission, especially to the grieving families? Why let people speculate or forget about it? They must be hiding something!” No hello or formalities exchanged to the woman, Marisol was itching for answers.

“Marisol, right?" The tired voice perked up. "I take it you did research?”  
“Yes, I’ve read every article on Google about the Kerberos mission, even the wild conspiracy theory that somehow blames the President of the United States and the Mafia.”  
It had only been a day and a half and Marisol felt like death. She was trying to connect all of the ideas she’s had and the theories she’s found together on sticky notes and notecards on a cork board attached to her bedroom wall, black string tying the points that made sense, it looked more like she was trying to solve a murder. She had missed her Zoology and Biology courses today because of the nagging questions that had kept her up the previous night. Three empty Red Bulls and a half eaten Thai take out next to her, sitting in bed with her gross sweatpants on and hair pulled back. Thank God her roommate spent most of her days at the library or her boyfriends apartment, otherwise she might have call for an intervention.

The woman chuckled quietly, still waking up.  
“I’m sorry to wake you, but I really need to know more, and how does the Kerberos Mission link to my brother?”  
“It’s quite alright, I was just tossing and turning anyways.” There was some shuffling on the other line, as if she was getting out of bed. “Would you like to meet up some place to chat? I have no idea what could possibly be open at 3am though.”  
“McDonalds on Summers Drive? Half hour?”  
“Not very healthy, but if you want, I'll be there shortly.”  
“Thanks!” Marisol hung up abruptly, jumping to take care of her trash and pull on better sweatpants.

***

Going to McDonalds at the wee hours of the morning was like being in a parallel universe where time did not exist. There was only two workers that were both sipping out of something behind the counter. Hardly anyone came to this McDonalds anyways, being so far from campus, so she wouldn’t even have to worry about running into someone she knew.  
Marisol was too anxious to eat, settling for another small coffee as she sat in a booth waiting for Colleen to arrive. She couldn’t help the drumming of her fingers on the plastic top, wondering if she was going to show up. Colleen wanted to meet with her in the first place, Marisol reminded herself as the door opened. 

Colleen had her messenger bag again, promptly setting up like she had done previously. Pulling out the picture of her daughter again, gently placing it on the linoleum table top, along with three other photos including her and their whole family and a dog.  
“This is Katie, and Matthew. This is right before the mission took off, the last time my family was whole. This is what the Garrison is hiding from me."

Marisol nodded solemnly.  
“I apologize about earlier. I don’t usually blow up on strangers. I-It’s been hard losing my brother, and the fact that there was someone that was assuming stuff about him made me upset.” Marisol traced a circle around her lid.  
Colleen reached out her hand soothingly, rubbing her thumb over Marisol’s worrying hand.  
“It’s alright, I understand the feeling. I’ve had people tell me to just let things go too, but the fact that you are sitting here, wanting to listen says more than anything.” She smiled, and for a moment, Marisol felt like she was back at home, being comforted by her own mama. 

“Now, lets get down to business.” Colleen pulled out the contents of the envelope, which contained files and papers marked with a red CLASSIFIED stamp. Marisol felt unworthy of looking at the documents, but sifted through them anyways. 

“Before we talk about your brother, I should tell you what I know about the Kerberos Mission. This was the biggest mission by Galaxy Garrison yet, two months of space travel to the farthest reach of our galaxy, then two months back. It shouldn't have been longer than six months, tops. Sam was thrilled to have both our son and Shiro on his team.”  
“The pilot?” Marisol clarified, remembering seeing a different name for him.  
“Yes, his full name is Takashi Shirogane, but everyone calls him Shiro, he and Matt were in the same year at Galaxy Garrison. He was the best pilot out of his class, he holds most of the records and received honorable mentions by Commander Iverson. It was no surprise that he would pilot for them.”

“From what I've gathered, they arrived successfully, and started the collection of ice and mineral samples of the moons surface, but halfway through the first month, the communications went dead. After a week, the couldn’t reach them anymore, in fact there was no sigh of life anywhere where they had landed. It was assumed that they had crashed on the planet.”  
“Assumed?”  
“Thats what the press and the families were told. I was horrified about losing both my husband and my son in one day, but my daughter wasn’t satisfied. She snuck into the Galaxy Garrison twice. She got a glimpse at classified footage and documents, was nearly arrested for it, but she discovered that they were lying.”  
“Your daughter did that?” Marisol looked up from the files that were laid out, glancing at the young lady in the photograph.  
Colleen smiled, a hint of pride coming over her.

“After they dropped her off at home and told her that she was never allowed back, I was furious. But when she told me of what she found out, I did what I had to do.”  
“What?” Marisol could only imagine what her own mother would do to her if she had done the same as Katie; she would have been lucky to be allowed out of the house ever again.  
“I made her a fake identity and snuck her back into the school as Pidge Gunderson, a boy from an upstanding family with an anonymous scholarship the school didn’t remember giving out.” Colleen smirked at Marisol’s slacked face.  
“She always wanted to go to Galaxy Garrison, who was I to deny her that. Plus she has several new ways to hack into the computer systems to find new information, even if all it did was ruin their reputation, they ruined our family, so we should get some form of satisfaction.”

“So did Katie, I mean Pidge, ever meet my brother at school?”  
“She never mentioned him by name, but she did mention that her pilot would often fail the simulation test and try to get her to sneak out to go into town with him and their engineer.”  
“That sounds like Lance alright.” She chuckled, remembering Skype calls when Lance would complain about how the flight system was rigged and he would be able to fly better if his roommate would stop vomiting and his communication officer would loosen up.  
“What about the engineer?”  
“Not too much on Hunk Garrett, besides his school information. Incredibly smart, on scholarship through the school. His family lives out in the Pacific, too far for me to travel to.” 

“So, three kids go missing and the Galaxy Garrison covers it with a death report.” Marisol bit back the bile that rose in her throat, feeling bitter with the school. “The question of the hour is why?”  
“That’s whats led me on this trip. No one I know will listen to me, and Takashi’s family has already suffered so much, I can't ask them to do this.” 

“I get why you would be on the hunt, but why tell me all of this?”  
“Because you want answers as badly as I do. You being here proves it."  
“So, where do we go from here?” Marisol sat back in the booth, the plastic crunching underneath her.  
“Straight to the source. We need to go to Galaxy Garrison and find the truth.”

It felt like a momentous moment, sitting in the dingy McDonalds in the early hours of the morning, vowing to right the wrongs.  
“Well, if we’re going to do this, we’ll need more coffee.” Marisol admitted, earning a chuckle from Colleen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is a big chapter, but I couldn’t find the right place to cut it off at, so here you go. Please leave kudos and comments! I was very happy at all of the attention in the first part, so hopefully it keeps up!
> 
> Thank you so much!


	3. Chapter 3

***

Unfortunately, the two of them couldn’t just drive off into the night on the search for answers, like people did in the movies. Marisol still had to attend classes and was not about to ditch mid-way through, and if her mother ever found out about the planned road trip to skip school and infiltrate a military base, she would be here faster than a bat out of hell. So the two women spent rest of the fall semester preparing for their trip. Creating identities to get into the Garrison, cover stories for their absences, and Marisol learned how to code and hack basic computer systems. Colleen was an communication specialist at the Galaxy Garrison, (that’s how she met her husband), and could break into any source, even privatized military sites that no one knew existed. 

Colleen was camping out at her apartment, sleeping in an extra room in her apartment, vacant since her third roommate dropped out shortly after midterms. Her other roommate was never home, and if she was she lived on the top floor, so it was perfect. Colleen offered to help pay rent and utilities during her stay, but Marisol insisted, they might need the money on their trip. In return, Colleen made her wonderful homemade dinners and helped her study for her classes.

The worst part about all of it though was lying to her family. She told her mother and father that the next semester she would be spending in the Galapagos, studying the reef life and other creatures that lived on the island. Her papa asked how much it would cost them, since they were helping her through college. She insisted that it was a scholarship, completely payed for by the school and that they needn’t worry about anything. She also said that she would be out of touch for a while because of the distance, which earned lots of protest in response. Her family had some attachment issues ever since Lance's incident, her parents tried to have her take a semester off of school. She made an agreement to call and text at least twice a week and to visit home once a month. Eventually after an hour of Marisol consoling them and promising to write many letters and take photos of her adventures, they begrudgingly accepted it, congratulating her on her achievement. Marisol couldn’t help but mutter the Hail Mary after she hung up the phone.

“Why are you praying about?” Colleen asked from her computer, busy coming up with new identity card for Marisol.  
“Because if my Mama finds out that I lied to her, I am going to need Jesus and all of the angels above to help me out of it alive.” Marisol said somberly.  
Colleen chuckled, but stopped when she saw how serious Marisol was. 

The Galapagos became her cover story for her friends and other teachers. Colleen acted as a professor going on a sabbatical who was taking a promising student to study the wildlife on the Galapagos islands. She even hacked the school’s website in case anyone were to get curious. Luckily no one was too suspicious, knowing how Marisol loved both the ocean and what lives in it, so it seemed like the ideal way to spend the spring semester, better than the damp chilly weather they would have. She would just have to accept taking summer classes and going one more semester than she originally planned.

The moment exams were done and her lease on her apartment was up, the two ladies piled into Colleen’s car- packed to the roof with food, clothes and other survival essentials (“You never know.” Colleen stated simply as they shoved a box tent into the boot of the car), they made their way for the open road. Marisol had never been out of the state of Florida before, so this was an adventure for her. Colleen laughed as Marisol pointed out every different license plate and made remarks about the different states they passed. (“I know Florida is big, but at least there are trees and stuff to look at. Texas is just big, and dry, and boring!”) 

It took 21 hours broken into two days of driving, ten gas station stops, eighteen pee breaks, and one near death experience with a drowsy driver, but they finally made it to Arizona. The directions for the Galaxy Garrison was basically drive to the middle of nowhere and turn left. Both with the isolation and with students gone for winter break, it was the ideal time to enact their plan. 

The women booked a motel room with the little money they had left over from their drive, setting up base with their identities and computers. “So the man that I’m interviewing…” Marisol started, laying out a bright red outfit, trying to smooth out any wrinkles as she hung it up for the next day.  
“Commander John Iverson.” Colleen stated as she typed furiously.  
“Yeah, him. How exactly will I get him to talk about the accidents without him sending security on me?”  
“You won’t have to, just stick to the questions we laid out.” Colleen said simply. “As soon as you are in the building, I’ll be hacking the mainframe and getting all of the information that we need. It might be a bit tricky since I need to be in range of the main building and they’ve increased the security since Katie last tried, but if you can keep him busy for an hour at most, that’s all I’ll need.”

“Fantastic.” Marisol didn’t sound too thrilled as she unnecessarily smoothed out the blazer.  
“What’s wrong?” Colleen asked, setting her laptop aside.  
“Nothing.” She tried to hide away from the comment.  
Colleen gave her the _mom face_ , the same one that chided her for drinking too much coffee or when she cussed at the slow drivers on the road. It mirrored her own mother's not-buying-what-your-selling face. It must be one of those universal things that women inherit when they become mothers. 

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Marisol finally conceded.  
Like I said, I only need an hour or so-”  
“Not just that.” Marisol sighed, laying the jacket down, sitting down on the bed, the springs groaning underneath her weight. “I mean, if there is something in the files, like you say, it could take a lot more than driving across the country for a couple days to get to the bottom of this. What if what we find is something truly awful? Or worse, there's nothing and we spend all the time and effort for nothing.” Marisol felt the seriousness start to settle in like an anchor sinking into her stomach, this wasn't just some fun road trip, this could change everything that they knew. 

“Mari,” Colleen said softly, slowly rising from her chair to stand across from her. Using the family nickname definitely got her attention. "My husband had this saying he would tell our kids; _'if you spend time worrying about what could go wrong, you might miss out on doing something great.'_ " She sighed as she sat besides her on the bed, taking one of her hands into both of hers. "You're right. We might not find anything, but we also might find that we’re in deeper than we can swim. Any way that this goes, we will know the truth, which is what we spent all of this time doing. It was not for nothing. And besides, I wouldn’t have wanted to travel across the country with any other college student. I like to think that we had fun at least a couple times in the past few days?”  
“Like at the taco place that gave us the runs?” Marisol suggested lightly.  
“Exactly, you’ll have to show me some real authentic Mexican food that won't make me sit in a Burger King's bathroom for forty-five minutes.” Colleen gave a small laugh.  
Marisol smiled in return, a tiny fissure in the weight of anxiety appearing.  
Colleen opened her arms and invited her in, wrapping Marisol up tightly in the embrace. Even though this woman was shorter and bonier than her mother, she still felt the love in the embrace that you can only get from a mom. 

“I miss my family, I really miss Lance.” Marisol muttered into her shirt.  
“I do too.” Colleen admitted quietly, knowing that the girl in her arms was one of the few people in the world who could actually relate to her longing. They stayed like that for a while, giving each other comfort that both didn’t know they needed.

“Anyways, time for bed. You need a good night sleep to infiltrate the Garrison tomorrow.”  
“Okay,” Marisol chuckled again, wiping her face and turning around to grab her pajamas. “Goodnight Colleen.”  
“Goodnight sweetheart.” She waved her off, turning back to her computer.  
Marisol paused, feeling her heart swell as she ducked into the bathroom, both embarrassed and flattered.

***

Sharp heels clicked in the cavernous hallway, pointedly marking her strides through the empty school, heavy boots of the guard in front of her the only other sound filling the halls. With the place so empty, it was hard to imagine that hundreds of students filled these halls, dorms, and classrooms on a daily basis. Could one of these dorms be her brothers? Did he really walk down these halls, joking and laughing with his friends? It wasn't too hard to imagine, but it still made her heart ache. Marisol fiddled with the ID badge the guard at the front gate had given her before escorting her through the school.  
"The Commander will be here shortly, he just got out of a meeting." The guard told her as he used the pad on the wall to open a door to an office, decently decorated with metals and plaques and certificates of achievement. So this guy was really full of himself.  
"Thank you." She said lightly, walking in before he shut the door behind her. Once alone, she let out a breath as she took a seat, smoothing the loose curls in her hair that Colleen had done for her earlier that morning, ("You can't look like a journalist unless your hair and make up is just a little over the top." Colleen had joked as she helped her get ready). The Commander was under the pretense that he was being honored by his alma mater with a lengthy article talking about his achievements as both a commander and a superintendent of the Galaxy Garrison. That bit was true, but Marisol was acting as the reporter. The real person, Diane Foster, was given the wrong directions for the Garrison, half way on her way to Nevada at this point. 

Marisol looked around the room and rubbed her sweaty palms against the dark skirt. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Colleen and her had run mock interviews with as many scenarios as they could think of, and she had already gotten through the hardest part; sneaking Colleen and her equipment in the trunk under a blanket. Even with the guard quickly checking her car, they had no problems as she rolled into the gates, parking where Colleen had told her so was close enough to get the information. According to Colleen, Iverson would spend hours boasting about himself, so keeping him busy wouldn't be a issue. Still, she felt like there was a _colibrí_ inside of her chest with how fast her heart was beating. She pulled at her sleeves, hoping that there weren't any obvious sweat stains.

The door behind her hissed open, heavy footfalls announcing Commander Iverson's arrival. Marisol stood up, forcing a smile on her face.  
"Commander Iverson, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you." She exclaimed in a falsetto voice, extended her hand to him, trying not to stare at his eye that was permanently shut due to an undisclosed accident a couple years or so ago.  
"The pleasure is mine Ms. Foster, it's always nice to see fellow Jayhawk in such a prominent position." He shook her hand before prompting them to sit. Marisol pulled out the sheet of paper with questions already laid out. 

"I must say, I am a little surprised that my school would want to do an article about me." He admitted as he took his seat behind his desk, though he didn't sound terribly miffed about having the spotlight on him.  
"Well, you are the most prominent alumni within the past ten years. I mean, running an entire military base isn't an easy feat, right?" She smoothed her skirt as she sat down again, giving him her brightest smile.  
"Well, no, but it takes lots of discipline and patience, sometimes a drink on the hard days." She tittered in agreement and bent forward as if to write it down on her pad of paper. It was actually just a letter to her mama, but the less he knew. She ran through the questions that Colleen had given her, letting him talk for as long as he wanted, (and boy, could he talk), scribbling away and acting intrigued in his boring life. She glanced at the clock every now and again, checking to make sure Colleen had more than plenty of time to hack the mainframe. 

"What would you say the biggest success of the Galaxy Garrison has been?" Everything was going according to plan. She only needed a few more minutes, then she would be free to leave with all of the information that they needed and no one would be the wiser.  
"Well, have you seen the images from Neptune's moons? Those are from satellites built by Garrison technicians. It's one of the furthest reaches of the galaxy, collecting information containing bio scans of the surface of the moons, looking for any forms of life." He puffed his chest as he leaned back in his chair.  
"Really? Fascinating." She scribbled some more. "What about the Kerberos Mission? I believe that was a Galaxy Garrison mission too." The atmosphere changed immediately. A dark look crossed his face for a moment before returning a tight smile.  
"Unfortunately yes, that was a mission of ours, but I would consider that one of our greatest failures."  
"How come?" She saw going off script, but she was curious now, (plus she needed another two minutes to give her companion some cushion just in case something went wrong). 

"Well, they barely made it to the destination before the craft crashed, unfortunately killing all of the crew members. It was a simple but costly human error. I highly doubt they want that in the paper." He gave her a side look.  
"No, no. That was just out of curiosity. Completely off the record." She waved her hand with a light laugh. "How do the students perceive you?"  
"Well, I try my hardest to be a role model to the students, even the delinquents. Every student here deserves a chance to succeed. They would probably tell you the same if they were here. It's a fine line between tough love and discipline."  
_'Barely dodged that bullet.'_ She relaxed a bit as he continued on as if they had never spoke of it.

"Have there been any instances where you disagreed with the Head Board's suggestions or decisions?"  
"Actually yes. There was one from around a year ago, they promoted a cargo pilot into the fighter class, although he was not ready for the pressure. I told them he wouldn't last a semester, and I was correct. He spent more time crashing the flight simulation than passing it."  
Marisol felt her blood run cold, the pen skidding across the page in realization.  
Was he talking about Lance?  
"What happened to this student?" She tried to keep her chipper voice, but there was the slightest waver.  
"There was a simulation accident where the chamber filled with smoke. We told them to get out, but the boy couldn't figure out how open the door and the override took too slow. Perhaps if it were in Spanish, it would not have cost the life of two other students." He scoffed, somewhat amused with his comment. He couldn't see how tight she was gripping the pen, creaking from the pressure. How dare he talk about him, about any student, like this to a stranger! "This is off record, correct?"  
"Of course." She forced the venom out of her voice and gave a tight smile. _'Not off of Jesus' record you hell-bound bastard.'_ She thought bitterly. 

"Was there something that the instructors could have done for him? Give him more practice or explain things better to him?"  
_'Marisol, don't.'_ The logical side of her brain was yelling to her. _'Just let it go and walk away.'_ But she was tired of letting this issue go, she had been told to let it go for over a year now, and she wasn't going to let some thick skulled, pompous bastard talk about her family like this.  
"Most likely, but he wouldn't have taken it seriously." He shrugged.  
"You don't know that!" She mentally slapped herself, snapping her jaw shut as fast as she could, but it was too late.

__

"You're awfully interested in this boy." Great, now he was looking suspiciously at her.  
"Just trying to cover every box." She grit out. Colleen should have been done by now, waiting at the rendezvous point for her. She should leave, before she did something she regretted.  
"Did you know him?"  
"As a matter of fact, he sounds a lot like someone I know." Her hands were shaking, and not just out of fear of being found out.  
"Well, tell them this. Keep his head out of the clouds and know when to quit. If Spic McClain had followed that advice, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten him and two innocent kids killed." 

That was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. One second she was seated, hearing those horrid words come out of his mouth, the next she had lunged across the desk, her fist colliding with his nose. He cried out as his chair gave out, collapsing to the floor. Marisol turned on her heel, grabbing the papers and hurrying toward the door. She heard him shout as the door shut. A spur of the moment idea hit her, slamming her elbow into the panel that had opened the door. The mechanism shattered and sent a shockwave of pain through to the tips of her fingers. Cursing, she bolted for the meeting point. 

Loud alarms suddenly blared.  
**"Attention staff, there is a rogue inside of the complex. She has attacked a commander and stolen classified information. She is to be found and restrained immediately."**  
Shit.  
She kicked off her shoes and took off running, better without heels to slow her down. She could hear heavy footfalls echoing through the halls, but she was quicker, shoving the side door for the maintenance crew open, nearly knocking Colleen to the ground. 

"What happened?" She demanded, pulling her hand as they sprinted along the alleyway.  
"Compromised, I gave away too much." She gasped as they rounded the corner where the car was waiting, already running. They slid into their sides of the car and drove off with a high-pitched peeling sound.  
Colleen had her foot to the floor of the car, trying to beat the ever closing gate. Marisol looked back to see smaller cars revving to life, ready to pursue. Marisol scrambled for the grip and squeezed her eyes shut, praying to God that they made it. 

By the skin of their teeth, and nearly loosing the bumper along the way, the gate closed behind them, driving off into the open desert like bandits in an old western film.  
"Why aren't they chasing us?" Marisol asked, looking behind them, not seeing the cars behind them, only the dust that had risen from their speeding.  
"I was worried with how long you we're, so I took the precaution to cut the fuel lines for the cars, and created a lock on all of the gates." She smiled devilishly at her as she drove at the breakneck speed, finally driving onto solid pavement and headed for the freeway. Marisol clapped her hands joyously, looking through the sun roof. God bless Colleen's thinking ahead, now they had everything they needed and no need to worry about being chased. 

"Did we get everything?" She asked, turning towards her, but Colleen was focused on her hands as they ran through her now tangled hair.  
"What happened to your hand?" She asked.  
Marisol looked down. There was blood covering most of her knuckles, none of it her own. She must have hit him harder than believed. There was even the finest splatters of blood on the bright blouse.  
"I'm sorry." That's all she had to say, Colleen figured the rest out pretty quickly. 

"Marisol you had one job!" She shouted as they merged onto the highway, weaving in and out of the traffic.  
"I did my job. You should have heard what he said about Lance! About your family! He got the least of what he deserved." She protested angrily.  
"That's no excuse!" She screeched as they narrowly missed a suburban, angry honking following them. "I've heard worse and so have you. You're anger almost wrecked the whole operation!"  
"But I didn't!"  
"But you could have! That was not the time nor the place to act like a brat!"

"I-I..." Marisol couldn't find a response to justify her actions, the weight of it hitting her. She slumped back in her seat, holding the bloodied knuckles to her mouth.  
"I hope it was worth it." Colleen muttered as she slowed down slightly, staring straight ahead without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, finally getting some action in! I promise we'll get to Lance and the Lions soon, but we've got a little bit so hold tight for a couple more chapters. 
> 
> Also, a HUGE thank you to y'all! I never expected to get any hits, and I've got almost 50 in just under a week! You guys are awesome, please let me know how you're liking the story in the comments below!
> 
> Feel free to check out my tumblr @hipsterhufflepuff and leave kudos/comments on this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

***

The car was absolutely silent, the two passengers refusing to address the elephant in the room. Marisol stared out the window at the barren desert, like the sullen teenager that she was, feeling both angry and regretful. She shouldn't have snapped, but hearing him say that slur was the last straw, granted she has heard worse; Wetback, Fidel, Bans, Dirty Immigrants, Latrino. If she had a dollar for every time she heard one of those words directed at her or her family (even though her family has been here for two generations now), she wouldn't be in student debt anymore. She shouldn't have let his words get to her, but she let her emotions get the best of her. She blew her cover and it nearly cost both of them. 

Colleen wasn't helping the situation with the silent treatment, stonily staring at the road, occasionally sighing and drumming her fingers against the wheel. She had every right to be angry, but they were both being a bit childish. Sooner or later, they would have to address what happened like adults. 

It happened sooner than she though, as the car pulled over on a dusty road, far enough away from the Garrison to not be followed and deserted enough that there wasn’t a chance of being seen. Colleen sighed as she shifted the car into park.  
"We should talk."  
Marisol nodded at the floor, allowing her to speak first. 

"I'm not angry at you per say. We got the information we needed, plus some. What I am upset about is that you put yourself in danger. Commander Iverson has connection all over the country, he could ruin your life without lifting a pinky if he truly wanted to. Take away your scholarship, kick you out of school, make sure no one in their right mind would ever hire you. Hell, he could even find a way to deport your family back to Cuba if he was feeling petty enough.”  
Marisol closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.  
"I know. I'm sorry."  
"There's nothing to be sorry for. It's over, the damage is done. I just pray that there aren't any consequences for you."

"What about you?" Marisol asked heatedly, turning towards her. "You could get thrown into federal prison for hacking a military base and robbing data from them! Both of us took risks and we'll deal with the consequences when they come." She sat back in her seat, feeling the car rock a bit from the harshness of her movement.

Colleen was silent for a moment, Marisol figured that she was falling back to her silent treatment from before, but after a moment, she sighed tiredly.  
"We should get back to the motel, gather our stuff, and get out of doge before the Garrison decides to arrest us."  
Marisol nodded in agreement, feeling less stiff now that they had talked. Colleen pulled the car back into drive and continued down the road.  
Turns out that neither of them had enough money for another motel, so the two of them took off in the night, trying to find a place where there was free wifi and cheap coffee. 

They ended up at a 24 hour fast food restaurant about three hours away from the Garrison. Marisol couldn't help but look over her shoulder as she sat in the back of the fast food restaurant, feeling like there was something watching them. The place was empty except for a couple stragglers that were getting their midnight munchies and a lone worker mopping out behind the counter, no one even spared them a glance when they came in or since they had arrived. She shook it off as nerves from what they had done today, but she was still a bit unsettled as she picked at a loose string in her sweater.  
Colleen bought coffee as a peace offering, an olive branch for yelling at her earlier, she smiled softly when Marisol accepted it. 

In the far back corner of the restaurant, they set up Colleen's laptop and files, no one paying them any mind as they huddled in the booth.  
"Here we are." Colleen pulled up the files once they were done downloading. She pulled up a private server and connecting the flash drive to see what they had nearly been arrested for. It was five files, what looked like videos. All of their work had been for five crummy files? They looked at each other, feeling the anticipation grow as the first one qued up. This was their moment of truth, whether this trip was worth the money, stress, and time. Marisol took the initiative and clicked on the first file. 

It was a video, grainy and low quality. There were four people in a room, one of them was strapped down to a medical table while the other three were in hazmat suits, examining the person on the table with tablets and pens like some kind of experiment. The sound was distorted from the video, but they could make out several voices, trying to calm the distressed man they had strapped down. 

_'You have to listen to me. They destroy worlds! They're probably on their way here. We need to find Voltron!' ___

____

”That's Takashi." Colleen gasped. Marisol hardly recognized him, though she had only seen several head shots of the man. Parts of his hair had turned as white as snow, a huge scar ran horizontally across his face, and where his arm should have been was a cybernetic prosthetic. He continued to pull desperately at his restraints as they continued to examine him like a lab experiment, asking questions about where he had been and what he remembered. It was as if they didn’t care that he was a human being who obviously looked like he had been through some kind of trauma. Twenty seconds of his frantic rambling passed before they proceeded to put him under despite his protests.  
"When did he come back? How did he? Where's the rest of the crew?" Marisol wondered out loud, but was met with silence. She spared a glance at Colleen, watching as her jaw set, but her eyes were imploring, as if she could get the answers of what happened to her family out of the old video. If he had made it, then there was a possibility, it was the first real proof that she had in over two years.

After a minute passed on the video of the med techs doing more tests on his arm, the door opened, showing a short stranger. A masked person took a defensive position as the others shouted at him to get out, rushing at him. He took down the med techs without even breaking a sweat. The person took off his covering as he approaching the man on the table, revealing a boy around Lance's age. He seemed shocked to see who was on the table, muttering his name and cutting the unconscious man free, lifting him as if he were going to carry him single handedly out of the compound. Then there was another voice, one that made Marisol freeze up. 

_'Nope, no you—no you don’t. I'm saving Shiro.'_

Her little brother was on the screen, along with Colleen's daughter and the other boy that were deemed dead with him, lifting the unconscious man with the stranger. Their interactions continued on screen, but Marisol couldn’t care less about what kind of pilot they were or if they were rivals, watching her formerly declared dead brother was almost overwhelming. He was talking and acting like nothing had happened to him, like he had no idea what was in store for him or his family. It simultaneously broke her heart and lifted her spirits. The video continued with the two carrying Takashi, the others following quickly. The camera showing an empty room for a minute before more Garrison members came back, realizing what had happened. One of the men barked to cut the camera feed, and the video ended abruptly.

“He’s alive.” Marisol muttered, feeling her toes and finger become numb from the realization. She could have jumped up and danced in the middle of the restaurant for joy.  
Colleen didn’t say anything, just clicked on the next video.

This time, the video was from inside of a car, like a camera that police officers used, showing the speed and the location in latitude and longitude. The car was going extremely fast, chasing after something red and full of people. Marisol leaned forward, counting at least five people, deducting that this must be the same group from the last video. She muttered under her breath, watching the hover bike veer left, and suddenly the camera was upside down and spinning out of control. The feed ended. The next video was almost exactly the same, ending at the same time.

“The cars must have crashed, probably into each other.” Colleen said quietly as she clicked on the fourth video. This was a continued chase, still following after the red bike. It veered to the right, jumping over a cliff, the car followed, but the feed cut once again. Colleen furrowed her eyebrows as she clicked on the last link. The feed was the longest, surpassing the others’ and continued to chase after them. The bike speed up, aiming straight for a cliff. Marisol swore out loud as the bike disappeared, the car stopping to save itself from the same fate. 

Marisol scanned the screen desperately, looking for any sign that they made it. A voice muttered something about having to report the accidents to Iverson and the video ended.  
“Wait,” Colleen clicked on the video again, fast forwarding to the end. “Look.” She pointed at the screen. Just before it cut out, there was a blur at the bottom corner, almost too fast and small to see it if you weren’t looking for it. She clicked to make it bigger, both of them sighing when they saw it was the hover bike. 

“They’re alive. They’re all alive.”  
“Or were alive a year ago.” Colleen clarified as Marisol snatched her notepad and pen from Colleen's bag to scribble something down.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Getting the coordinates of the car, seeing where they went to.” Marisol flung herself from her seat and booked it to the door. “Lets go!”  
Colleen hurried to finish her coffee and follow after her, wondering what she was up to.

***

Colleen ended up driving the little station wagon, letting Marisol direct her to where they needed to go with her phone GPS and compass, trying to find the exact coordinates of the last car's transmission. It was kind of creepy driving through the desert this late at night, only the moon above them to give them any light. They drove back in the direction of the Garrison, but stayed far away from the school as they drove out into the open desert. 

They drove until they encountered a canyon, it was too rocky and dangerous to keep on driving, so Colleen pulled off to the side, parking underneath an overhang that hid them from prying eyes.

“Why did you stop?” Marisol asked, finally looking up from her phone. “We’re not there yet.”  
“We can’t go any further in the car, maybe if we had a hover bike or one of those of road cars, but not in this little station wagon.” Colleen pointed out to her gently.  
“Then we’ll walk there.” The younger woman said determinedly, reaching for the handle like she was actually going to get out and walk off into the night. but a clicking the lock button twice to lock them both inside.  
“Colleen.” She whipped her head around to look at her, a betrayed look on her face.

“Look, I’m not an expert at climates, but I do know that the desert temperatures are freezing at this time of the night. The animals tend to come out because of how cool it is to hunt. It’s too dangerous for us to continue on tonight.”  
“We can’t just stop!” Marisol shouted, ignoring how she flinched.  
“We don’t have a choice.”  
She scowled and threw her hands up, feeling angry tears start to build in the corners of her eyes. She was so close!

“Marisol,” Colleen prompted her to look at her after a few moments of silence. “I know you want to keep going, I know the pain that you’re going through, being so close to figuring it out. But we need to help ourselves too. We can’t find them if we’re too tired or if we get hurt.” Marisol knew this deep down, but the irrational part of her still wanted to override the lock and storm out into the night by herself. She took a couple deep breaths to calm her down, wiping her eyes.

“We’ll go at sunrise, I promise." She said quietly, touching Marisol's arm until she looked up at her.  
"Fine. You should really sleep, I know you didn’t get any last night.” Marisol opened her mouth to protest, but Colleen's ‘mom face’ quieted her. She had been nervous about what they had to do the next day, mostly tossing and turning for most of the night.  
“First thing in the morning.” She gave in, slumping against the side of the car as Colleen dug around in the back seat for pillows and blankets. She turned off the car and they huddled together, the chill of the night starting to creep in.

Colleen was out like a light, truly exhausted, but Marisol was still wide awake, looking up out of the moon roof the car had. She made good use of it and started to stargaze. The stars were different than the ones she and Lance would gaze at on the beach, much closer and blown across the sky. Marisol felt like she was looking out so far that she could fly.

It was times like this that she missed the home, having all of the lights and the sounds around her to make her feel like she wasn’t alone in the world. The desert was so barren that she almost believed that she was completely alone in the dark of night. She obviously wasn’t alone, with Colleen at her side, but the ache for home still lingered, only outweighed by the desire to find the truth. She missed her family, probably down in Cuba for the upcoming holiday. This would be her first time away from her family for Christmas, Lance’s too if he was really out there. Him being out there sparked hope in her, but it also brought up questions. If he were alive, why wasn’t he in school or at home? Why hadn’t he contacted them by now? What was he doing with those kids?

Marisol sighed dejectedly, slumping down more in her seat. She felt a weight fall onto her shoulder, Colleen unconsciously burrowing into her arm, looking down at the tired face, where the dark circles seemed to be constant and there were stress lines that most women didn't get until they were older, way older than Colleen was. She must have fought with these questions too, maybe dozens more, even longer than Marisol had. She was not alone in this endeavor. They would find their families, damn the consequences, even if it meant tearing the world apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come bother me: @hipsterhufflepuff98


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (early) Valentine's Day! This part finishes on a bit of a cliff hanger, so y'all might get another update today or tomorrow, just because :)  
> Feel free to comment/leave kudos below, hope you enjoy!

***

Marisol watched as the sky turn brighter through the windshield, feeling a sense of wonder as the sun started its journey into the sky. From the inky black to the dusty pink to a warm orange like the rocks they reflected as it started to peak over the horizon. She had always believed that watching the sun rise over the ocean was the most beautiful sight on this Earth, but watching the sunrise over the desert plain became a close second. 

She gently prodded Colleen awake as the sun started to peak over the horizon. The two women took their time to get ready, with the challenges of being in the outdoors, Marisol would have given her left leg to have a proper bathroom to piss in, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. They packed whatever they could fit into their backpacks; they didn’t know how long this would take, so they packed up everything. The food, water, extra clothes, and an emergency medical kit were in Marisol’s bag and Colleen’s technology and files in her own pack. Colleen reassured her that she could bear the weight, but Marisol could already see sweat beading on her forehead. 

The two took off on the hike, leaving the nearly empty car in the overhang for safe keeping, just in case the Garrison came looking for it. Colleen had her phone out, leading the two of them into the the right direction in empty expanse in front of them. Marisol rubbed the back of her neck again, feigning an itch when Colleen looked her way. It was the same tingling sensation from last night, her hair standing on end despite the sweat. But the desert was void of any life besides the two of them and the occasional lizard scampering their way to their caves for the day, even the predatory birds didn't want to be out. She shook her head roughly as if casting it away and marched on. 

Before too long, the sun was beaming down on them, despite it being early in the morning, it was already getting hotter and there was not a cloud in sight. Marisol was used to the heat, living in both Florida and Cuba for most of her life, but the fair-skinned Colleen seemed to be suffering.  
“Us Holts are not made for the heat. Or any kind of nature to be honest.” She tittered as she wiped off her brow, as they stopped for their eighth water break in an hour.  
"Let me. Please?" Marisol firmly insisted. Colleen gave her a look of gratitude as they switched, obviously been weighed down but did not want to complain.  
The sun was directly overhead when they reached the spot of the final recording. They decided to take a break, emptying one canteen of water and eating some portions of food, trying to be conservative with what they ate.

“So according to the video, they went off in that direction.” She looked at the camera feed again, pointing downwards with her free hand, tracing a line through the gorge and to the far end. “About twelve degrees southwest.”  
“So what happens when we get down there?” Marisol asked, licking her fingers clean of cheese dust, crumbling the empty chip bag. “This was like a year ago, there definitely won’t be any tracks for us to follow.”  
“You’re right, so we’ll assume that they didn’t make any turns or go in another direction. We’ll walk a ways, see what there is. Maybe there's a small town or outcropping they could have stopped at. If there’s nothing in that direction, we head back here and come up with a new plan.”  
It wasn’t the best idea in the world, but it was the only one they could think of.

Colleen asked for her bag back, promising to give it back once it was too much for her. They carefully eased their way down, using a narrow, unsteady path that no car would have been able to use, even the Garrison’s vehicles. Marisol was silently grateful that they decided to wait until daylight, otherwise one of them would have fallen for sure. They couldn’t afford an injury with how far away from civilization they were. 

Without warning, as if beckoned by her thoughts, Marisol lost her footing as the rocks from her foothold collapsed under her weight. She yelped loudly as she tumbled down a good thirty feet before she reached the sandy bottom of the chasm with a grunt.

“Marisol!” Colleen called after her, her voice echoing in the empty canyon, quickly trying to find a better route down the cliff side than she had.  
“I’m fine! I'm okay!” She called back, voice bounding off of the walls. Her palms and knees stung, having been ripped open on the rocks during her descent, but was otherwise not too bad. She regretted wearing shorts rather than actual pants like Colleen had suggested. Seeing no more physical damage, she slowly got to her feet, feeling an flash of pain race up the length of her left leg when she tried to stand. She swore as she sat back down, cradling her knee close to her chest. Colleen hurried over, kneeling besides her.  
“My knee, I think I might have twisted it on the way down.” Marisol explained between puffs of breath, trying to look it over while keeping the throbbing pain to a minimum.  
“I wouldn’t be surprised, you fell quite a ways.” Colleen panted, frantically taking off Marisol's pack, digging around for the first aid kit. 

When she pulled it out, she stared blankly at the kit, freezing up for what she needed to do.  
“Here.” Marisol waved her hand and took it from her, opening it and scanning for what she needed.  
“Sorry, I was never really good at first aid. We all had to take basic training at the Garrison, but I barely passed that. Give me a computer virus any day, but I can’t even treat a paper cut.” Colleen apologized, rubbing her neck as Marisol took out a cream and gauze.

“I’ve had medical training too, but I’ve only done this on animals and in theory before.” Marisol said, laying down after she rubbed anti-inflammatory cream over the area that was already beginning to swell, and pulling her leg above her, wrapping it so her knee was slightly bent. “They are usually not as cooperative as I am.”  
“I keep forgetting, you’re a marine biologist.” Colleen chuckled, trying to take their minds off of her injury.  
“Well, I will be in two years. I still need to graduate. Plus grad school, maybe med school if I want to be a vet. But yeah, I had to study human biology for the basics.” She tried to control her breathing as she rubbed the cream on the inflicted area. “My oldest brother, Alex, he tore his ACL in football ages ago —not American football, I meant soccer—, and he reacted way more than I am, so this is nothing. Probably just a strain, a sprain at the worse. I’ll get over it. I should be lucky it wasn’t worse.” 

Colleen smiled tightly as she held out her hand to help her stand. Marisol felt unsteady on her injured side and nearly toppled over again, but Colleen grabbed her, supporting her.  
“We should head back to the car, maybe there’s a better way through driving.” Colleen said softly, seeing how Marisol scrunched her face in pain as she tried to hobble along.  
“No.” Marisol argued. “The car is ten miles back, and I wouldn’t even be able to make it up the cliff without hurting myself more.”  
"I could go..."  
"In the desert all alone? No way." Marisol protested.  
“But you should be resting your knee, putting it up and icing it or something.”  
“I know, but we don’t really have a choice.”

Sighing, both ladies started forward again, Marisol put on a brave face and pushed through the pain. It was slow going, with both the heat rising and Marisol’s leg, they were moving at snail pace. After a while, Marisol shook off Colleen, saying that she needed to navigate them more than she needed to carry her. Her knee was the size of a grapefruit with the wrappings off when she checked it while on a break. It was screaming with pain, and she knew fully the results if she kept aggravating her injury, but they couldn’t afford to stop, otherwise they would be stuck in the desert at night. So she persisted. 

During one of the breaks, Colleen left Marisol alone to scout a high cliff, seeing if there was any way that they could make it without scaling it, and if there was anything on the other side. Marisol leaned back against the thin tree, a small cluster of them in the middle of the ravine giving some relief from the torrential sun. Marisol reapplied the cream and rewrapped her leg, trying not to cry from how badly her leg was hurting. Maybe it was as bad as they had feared. But there was no way that she was going to stop their mission now, not with the slightest possibility of their families being alive and well. She cursed and leaned against the flimsy tree, hating how clumsy she had been and helpless she was now.

It had been a while of her just sitting there, forcing herself to think of anything else besides her injury, when she felt it. The same sensation that made the hair on her neck and arms stand at attention, a deep pit forming in her stomach. Marisol looked around, trying to find the source of her sudden feeling.  
Was there something watching them? Or someone?  
She had nothing to protect herself with, unless Colleen’s heavy bag counted, she was too injured to run, and Colleen was on the opposite side of the canyon wall by now. Marisol was the book definition of screwed.

After the moment of panic washed over and nothing sprung out to attack, she felt something else under the tingling and uneasiness. A pull. Very strong and very persistent. It pulled her from the base of her skull like a fish on a hook, it felt warm and almost familiar. For a split second, she thought she could smell the ocean. Marisol shook her head, wondering if she was imagining things because of her being dehydrated, but it continued, and curiosity was starting to get the best of her. What if there was something out there on the horizon, calling out to her.  
Part of her wondered if it was Lance. 

That decided it for her. She used the tree to help her stand, looking out to where the pull was seeming to call her to. She stumbled out into the open desert like the mad woman she was, going in the opposite direction of where they were heading. She knew that she should have stayed put, wait for Colleen at least, but the more she walked, the stronger the pull became, beckoning her to wherever it was. 

She didn’t know how long she had been walking through the desert, following the phantom pull, but it was almost too much for her. Just before she was about to collapse and give up, she spotted something in the distance. It could have been her mind playing tricks on her dehydrated mind once again, but that was exactly what she thought about the pull, and she had been right. There was only one way to find out.

“Marisol!” A voice carried over the wind, causing her to turn awkwardly. She saw a figure rapidly making their way towards her, struggling with two hefty bags on their back.  
“What are you doing? I came back and you were gone, it took me forever to find you!” Colleen asked between puffs of air, trying to catch her breath from her run.  
“We need to go that way.” Marisol pointed towards the something on the horizon, still quite a distance away.  
“Why? Did you see something?” Colleen looked  
"Not quite." She admitted, "But I have a feeling that there is something out there."  
“Then, by all means, lead the way.” Colleen waved her hand to usher her forward, Marisol cocked her head at her in confusion. “I trust your judgement.”

Marisol nodded and led the way, still trying not to limp while she walked. The two ladies saw the object grow bigger against the dusk sky, letting them know it was real. This spurred her to a faster walk, wanting to reach it before the sun set.  
It wasn’t impressive, just a little dinky house out in the middle of nowhere, but to them it was a oasis. Marisol was about to walk up the porch step when Colleen grabbed her arm. 

“Look.” She pointed.  
Marisol followed her finger to see a red hover bike. Exactly like the one they had seen in the surveillance videos they had pirated. Marisol turned back towards Colleen, unable to hide the excitement on her face.  
“Lance?” Marisol shouted, bounding up the steps as best as she could and banged on the front door. Surprisingly, the door creaked open. Marisol didn’t hesitate to push it open and charge in, not sure what to expect on the other side.  
"Lance!"


	6. Chapter 6

***

Marisol tried her hardest not to be disappointed when she barged in and was only met with an empty room.

The main room was bare, paint and plaster chipping away and a poster gradually peeling off the wall. There was a radio set in the corner and a coffee table loaded with outdated magazines and newspapers. Blankets lay across the couch and the lone bedroom, which had more papers. Marisol looked to Colleen as she entered the house, taking it in for herself. She was very quiet, probably not hoping to find them here like Marisol had been. Colleen looked in the refrigerator, gagging at the foul smell of rotten food and spoiled milk. 

“If this is someone’s house, they haven’t been here in a long time.” Colleen remarked as Marisol flopped ungracefully onto the smelly couch, putting her leg up on the arm for elevation, trying not to pout in frustration. She should have been icing her knee or something, but exhaustion from the day was catching up with her, and now that she was sitting down, she didn't know if she could get back up.

“This is completely in the opposite direction we were going. I can’t even see where we were before.” Colleen said as she lifted the curtain to see out the window. “How did you know to come here?” She rounded on Marisol.  
“I had this...instinct, this sensation, pulling me in the right direction.” Marisol admitted.  
“Like a gut feeling?” Colleen asked, genuinely intrigued.  
“No, this feels bigger, it’s like…” Marisol waved her hand around, trying to find words to describe the feeling. “Like something wanted us here.”

“Well, whatever it was, it got us to safety.” Marisol noted that it was getting dark out. Had they kept on going in the same direction, they would have had to spend the night out in the desert.  
“We should stay here, even just for the night. Rest up your leg and try to figure out what happened here.”  
Marisol had almost forgotten about the bike in her rush to get inside the house. That had to be the same one the boy had been driving, it was so distinct, so it was a clue, but only a clue in their search. She wanted to search the house, see what could be found if the students had really been here, but her knee throbbed in protest. Colleen did a sweep of the bedroom instead, coming back with a skin tight black suit and a purple material found in the trash.  
“This is what Takashi was wearing on the surveillance feed, they were here.” 

Marisol leaned back against the couch thoughtfully, only just noticing the sheet tacked up to the wall.  
“Colleen?” She called, pointing to the wall. Colleen strode forward and carefully took the sheet down, displaying what could only be described as ‘X-Files Investigation’, complete with notes and string connecting one point to another. It didn’t make a lick of sense to Marisol, so Colleen read the notes aloud for her.  
"He's describing an energy source around an area that's not too far from here.” She circled an outlined area with her finger.  
"So, was he feeling seismic activity or something?" Marisol asked.  
"I don't think so," She paused. “Look at these photos.” She pulled one off of the wall, handing it to Marisol so she could look. It appeared to be a bunch of drawings inside of caves, not unlike the ones she was studying just a semester ago. A giant lion was carved all over a cave, depicting different symbols that showed the lion running with gazelles and crouching in the grass. "He must have found these in the same area."  
"Okay, what do the lion carvings have to do with my brother?" She asked as she passed it back to her.  
"No idea." Colleen shook her head, looking wistfully around the room.

Colleen scooped a paper off of the floor, looking quizzically between it and another photo on the wall.  
"It's a Fraunhofer Line." She exclaimed, holding it up for Marisol to see.  
"What's a frown-hopper line?" Marisol looked blankly at her and the graph in her hands.  
"Fraunhofer." She corrected the younger woman. "It's a graph that depicts an energy source through elements. I haven't seen one since my days at the Garrison. Except I have never seen one quite like this."  
"Do you think that could be what led us here? Or the one that is in that area?"  
"Perhaps." Colleen set the paper down on the coffee table, sitting besides Marisol with a tired sigh. 

"By the way, the bike belongs to Kieth Kogane. Third year student." Colleen held up a broken student ID badge, identical to the one Lance had.  
"Same year as Lance, that explains how they knew each other." Marisol nodded, looking at the badge herself. The photo showed an indifferent looking boy, a little bit younger than the guy in the feed, she could just make out the words Fighter Pilot where the break was. 

"So that's the fighter pilot Lance didn't like." Marisol murmured.  
"Huh?" Colleen had gotten lost in her own thoughts.  
"I remember Lance telling me about this kid with a mullet that had beat him out of the fighter class, apparently he was scored his way to the top of the class as a transfer, bumping Lance down to the Cargo Class. Oh, he raged about it for days." Marisol chuckled, memories of him ranting about this boy over Skype resurfacing, bringing a small smile to her face. "Then he said the kid got expelled for disciplinary issues and he got in the fighter class, so he was fine."  
"That would explain the lack of information on him, and why he wasn't on any public files. The Garrison doesn't like rebels." 

"I'm going to make something for us to eat, I'm sure Mr Kogane wouldn't mind if I threw out his old food. Also, I think I saw an ice box outside, if luck is still on our side." Marisol went to stand up, but a look from Colleen had her reeling back into the couch. She supposed she could sit down for a while. 

***

"So what's our next step?" Marisol asked around a mouthful of food. Even though it was just pasta, salt, and butter, it was the best damn thing she had eaten in days.  
Colleen shook her head at her but had a small smile on her face, probably holding back a motherly scold about talking while her mouth was full.  
"I think we should find that energy source you've been feeling, we don't have the machinery to track it scientifically, I could try to build one out of what I brought, but that could take days. So you'll be our tracker, and if that doesn't work, then I'll take the time to build an actual tracker."  
Marisol nodded, readjusting her ice wrap around her knee. They wouldn't need a machine to track the pull. Even while they were just sitting there, the pull in her head grew more persistent, impatient almost. "What do you think the lion carvings has to do with it?"  
"No clue. Maybe nothing at all, maybe it was just some weird carvings he found. Nevertheless we should find that cave, maybe it's the next step of finding out where they went." 

Marisol nodded solemnly, pushing her food around her bowl. As hungry as she was moments ago, she lost her appetite thinking about Lance. The questions of Why came back again, more persistent and negative than before.  
"Thinking about them?" Colleen asked gently.  
"I always think about him. I just don't understand what happened. We know they're alive, or they were alive a year ago, but why haven't they contacted us? Why not just go back to school or come home? What if something happened to them between being here and the cave? What if we still don't find anything?"  
"I know." Colleen rested a hand on her uninjured leg. "There's still too many questions and not enough answers. But we'll find them. One way or another." 

"Why don't you tell me about your family?" Colleen switched subjects suddenly. "I'm sure you're tired of hearing about mine all the time."  
"I mean, I'm the one that brings Lance up all the time, but sure." Marisol chuckled as she set her dish aside, more than happy to oblige. "Where to start? I have two older siblings and then Lance. The oldest two, Sasha and Alejandro, are already married off and have families of their own but they still make time to come and visit us. Alejandro, we call him Alex, was the one who tore his ACL. He was a phenomenal soccer star, he got a scholarship to the University of Florida for it. He's an athletic trainer at the local high school now. Sasha is a beautician, she is so talented with hair, she did my hair for all of my dances and recitals. Her and her boyfriend are planning on buying a house before they tie the knot." 

"Enrique and Elana are Sasha's kids, she had them shortly after graduating high school, but she doesn't regret it, she loves them and their father very much. Those two are twins in every way, and way more mischievous than Lance and I combined. My poor mama has her work cut out for her. They're a lot younger than us though, so they get away with everything. Lance would often help take care of them, he's great with kids. Mama is a banker, and a force to be reckoned with if you do not please her. Papa stays at home with the kids, but does landscaping and other stuff in our neighborhood to help bring money in."  
"We've got two dogs, Bean and Lola are mutts that we rescued from the shelter, and about a dozen chickens in the backyard for fresh eggs, but I don't really consider them pets. That's where I got all of these from, I always had to collect the eggs and they were the meanest birds I have ever met." Marisol displayed her arms where the chickens had pecked and clawed at her over the years, forming a litany of tiny scars that stuck out against her dark skin.  
"We spend a lot of time down in Cuba with our grandparents on my mama's side, they live down there. My other grandparents moved up here back in the 50's when times got hard down there, luckily they got out before the embargo and immigration restrictions. My _grand-abuelo_ changed our last name when he arrived in Miami, it used to be Lopez, but he wanted a more American name. My mama's parents snuck her and my aunts and uncles out for a better education in the States in the 80's, which led to my parents meeting in college. My mama's family lives on an old sugar cane farm, we used to spend many our summers down there, especially after the travel restrictions lifted. My _abuelo_ makes the best garlic knots known to man. I'll make some for you some time, but fair warning, I am awful in the kitchen. My papa always said I would make a terrible house wife for my future husband. But I don't want to be a house wife, I want to make a difference in the world." Marisol stopped suddenly, realizing that she was ranting and gotten way off subject.  
"Sorry, you probably didn't want to hear half of that." Marisol rubbed the back of her head, hating how overboard she went. Colleen had wanted a brief summary, not her entire family tree and history. "No, no, I did. You don't really talk about your family too much, outside of the little things." Colleen reassured her, looking genuinely interested with Marisol's life. "Plus you look happier when you're talking about them." Marisol looked down, fiddling with a stray string in the couch.  
"I miss them." She said quietly.  
"Well, hopefully you will be back with them soon." Colleen looked down too.  
"Colleen. No matter what happens, even if we never find your daughter or your family, I want you to know that you are always welcome in my family." She reached out to grab her hand. "You are a great mom, and I would be honored if you were my mama." 

Seconds later, Marisol was in a bone crushing hug. She returned the hug with full force. Colleen was quietly crying against her, and she was barely able to hold back her own tears.

Even if they never found their own families, they would not be alone anymore. 

***

_Blinding purple lights filled her vision. Marisol felt like she was on a roller coaster, dodging and diving away from the lights at breakneck speed. She felt sick to her stomach, but at the same time she almost wanted to scream from joy. This is what she had always wanted to do, even if the details were not quite the same as what she had imagined._

_She heard other voices talking to her, giving commands and praises over a communication device in her ears, but it was all background noise compared to the roar of explosions that shook her to her bones. It sent her back, flying with little control of where she was going. A voice that was not her own cried out in pain. Red emergency lights flashed, words that she could not read but she still somehow understood flashed warnings to her. She groaned, feeling the gravity let go, only held in by the seatbelt. Her eyes grew heavy, but she still tried to push the levers, even when a bright light blinded her. The recognition set a thrill of fear down her spine. She was being pulled in._

_'No no no no!' Her thoughts were panicked now, desperately trying to figure a way out as the beam pulled her in,too quickly to come up with a solid plan of escape. She pulled on a set of levers in her grasp, but they were locked, as if something was overriding the controls.  
'I'm sorry Blue.' She gently rubbed the console, guilt and dread building in her chest as the dark mass steadily grew closer. _

_Before she could comprehend anything, the seat below her disappeared, sending her tumbling backwards. A scream ripped it's way out of her throat, but it didn't sound like her at all. Her visor barely had time to activate the face shield before she was sent spinning into the void of space._

_Something bright yellow rammed into her vessel with a loud bang, pushing it out of the way of the tractor beam and spinning out of harm's way. Her breath rattled in her ears, voices calling a name that did not belong to her. She only had a moment to regain her bearings, hearing the engaging of rockets approach. She turned around, finding a smaller but still not friendly ship.  
'No!' She tried to push herself, propel herself with the packs on her back, but something much stronger grabbed the back of her uniform, lurching her backwards. _

_The gravity switched on and she hit the floor, whacking her head onto a dark grey panel. It knocked the wind out of her, before she could regain any type of ground, shark claws dug into her scalp. Her vision was blinded by violet lights, blocking out whomever had their grip of her._

_'My my my, what do we have here? A little blue Paladin all on his own." 'His own?' "Shame we couldn't grab a lion, but I guess you'll have to do." The hand shoved, her vision tunneling as she was rammed into the floor face first. Screams that were not her own filled her ears, almost covering the deafening roaring sound and the bright yellow eyes..._

Marisol lurched forward with a deep gasp, barely having time to orient that she wasn't trapped somewhere with menacing purple lights or sharp claws, but rather in the little shack in the middle of nowhere, before bile rose up her throat. She limped towards the bathroom next to the bedroom before last night's dinner made a return, burning the whole way up. She gagged at the sour taste in her mouth, shuddering as more contents were emptied into the toilet bowl. After dry heaving a couple of times, as if making sure she had nothing left in her stomach, she flushed the toilet with a weak groan, arms still shaking and her head spinning.

"Marisol?" Colleen called from the living room, footsteps approaching rapidly.  
"Just a sec." She called, shutting the door with her uninjured foot so she could get a handle on things before Colleen saw her. Marisol forced herself to stand up, looking into the dingy, cracked mirror above the sink. Her fractured image was pale, sweat beading on her forehead and upper lip. She nabbed a dusty towel and ran it under some cold water, patting her skin with the damp cloth to help her calm down. She took a couple deep breaths, throwing the towel back on the rack and pulling the door open. 

Colleen stood a few feet away, concern evident on her face.  
"Just a nightmare, I'm fine." She limped back over to the couch, propping her foot as she prepared to wrap it again.  
"But you threw up?"  
"Yeah, I've never done that after a nightmare before." Marisol took a moment to orient herself, still feeling dizzy, and she was just trying to wrap her knee.  
"Do you wanna talk about it?"  
"Nah, it was just a dream. Nothing worth talking about. I've basically forgot what it was even about honestly." She stalled talking about what she had just seen by rambling, wrapping her knee simultaneously. It wasn't a complete lie, she had started to forget some of the details of the dream, but she still felt the nails clawing through her scalp, the overwhelming sense of fear, but the less that she knew, the better.

"Maybe we should stay in for another day. Your leg is still pretty bad and you're not feeling well." Colleen lightly suggested.  
"No!" She forced out, lowering her voice when Colleen flinched back. "We're so close. I'll be fine, honestly, it's probably just the heat and stress."  
Colleen sighed, obviously disapproving but figuring there was no way to bargain her to stay, decided to pack their bags. Marisol helped the best that she could, feeling slightly sorry after snapping at her friend. She could make her do a lot of things, some just by looking at her the right way, but there was no way to talk Marisol about resting now, not after that dream. Though she was still trying to figure out what it meant, she knew somewhere in her gut that something was wrong. She had to hurry, although she had no idea what she was running to.  
They decided to leave Colleen's computers and other technology behind, too heavy to carry for such a short trip. They'd be back before sunset and it wasn't worth the added weight for either of them. Instead, they made her bag into a makeshift cooler, holding water bottles and ice for Marisol's knee. They tied a cool rag around her knee, drenching her pant leg, (she had learned her lesson yesterday, no matter how hot it was, she wasn't risking her injured knee). Her knee was smaller than yesterday, but still hurt like hell. They agreed that they would walk in the direction on the Fraunhofer line, stopping if they found nothing or if the pain was unbearable. Then they would make their way back and regroup. The headed out before the sun rose, the city lights still twinkling far in the distance. 

The sun was barely at half staff before they found where the Fraunhofer line was, matching the chart to the landscape. It was almost dead-on, which kinda freaked Marisol out.  
"Alright. Do you feel anything?" Colleen asked as they stopped for a break.  
"Yeah, I'm feeling a pull again, it's very strong now." She almost felt caught up in the overwhelming feel of it, letting the force drag her around like a insistent child trying to pull her towards something amazing. "This way!" She limped onwards.

The pull zigzagged all over, sometimes she would lose it completely before it would lead her another way. She was almost running by the time she reached the chasm, the pull wanting her to go to the cave at the bottom. They stopped long enough to grab flashlights before making their descent. It was slow going, Colleen almost having to carry Marisol down at one point, but they made their way to the cave. 

They turned on their flashlights as they entered, gasping lightly as their lights caught the images carved into the stone. It was just like the photographs back at the shack, with carvings all over the walls and above her head. It was way cooler in real life though, nearly twice the size and spread all over. Marisol wondered if this was what her professor felt like when he raved about cave paintings.  
She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, nearly missing a massive dark hole that spread across the ground. Colleen grabbed her elbow before she could tumble down, hissing when her leg throbbed in pain.  
"Thanks." She muttered as Colleen kneeled down to see where the hole went, but the beam of light only went so fat. She swore she could hear rushing water, like a river or something, but it was too dark to tell for sure.  
"I can't even see where it goes, I wonder what happened here?" Colleen said. Marisol was quiet, still fascinated by the carvings in the walls, gently tracing one with the tips of her fingers. 

Suddenly the carving in front of her turned a bright blue, like the blue lights in her dream, then all of them were lighting up the cave in an unearthly light. Colleen and Marisol gasped, stumbling as the ground shook slightly. They glanced at each other and made the unanimous decision to book it to the entrance, unsure and afraid that the cave was going to collapse on them. They fell to the sandy ground the moment they made it out, looking back to see if the cave had caved in. Everything looked normal, the blue light had faded away, as if never there at all. 

"You saw that light, right?" Marisol asked, wanting to make sure that what they had seen was true.  
"Yeah, Keith never mentioned that they turn blue and caused an earthquake though." She shook her head in astonishment. "Are you alright? Do you feel that pull anymore?"  
"No." Marisol tried to find the same sensation that had led them here, but it was gone, leaving her strangely empty. "It can't just be gone." Marisol stood up, pacing around the sandy ground to see if she could pick it up again, but there was nothing, the line had gone slack.

"Marisol." Colleen called her in a slightly reprimanding voice, as if warning her about her hurt leg.  
"No!" Marisol felt a hole grow in her chest, as deep as the one back inside the cave. "I can find it, I will." She stood up, and paced around, as if that would pick up the source.  
"Marisol?" Now she sounded slightly confused, but she was starting to hyperventilate from the emptiness in her.  
"We have traveled too far, risked too much, to be left with nothing! It's not fair!" She cried out, her voice echoing through the valley.  
"Marisol!" Colleen shouted frantically, pointing over Marisol's head. She spun around, seeing what had Colleen looking so petrified. 

It was a giant fireball, and it was headed right towards them. 

"Run!" 

She didn't need to told twice. Both ladies ran as fast as they could out of the chasm, but Marisol was lagging behind, her leg bursting with pain with every step. Colleen helped her, draping her arm around her and pulling her like a dead weight. They had just made it out of the chasm, crawling away from the edge when the fireball hit. Both ladies fell forwards and braced against one another for the impact. It wasn't a huge explosion like Marisol had expected, but rather it must have slowed down with the sound of rockets engaging right before it hit the ground. There was a tremor as it landed and then silence. Once the dust had cleared, Colleen and Marisol looked at each other, checking for any sign of injury before looking behind them, yelping and jumping back in surprise. 

A giant, blue, robotic lion, like the ones carved into the walls in the cave, was peering at them. The head was above the lip of the chasm, staring them down with bright yellow eyes. Marisol remembered seeing eyes just like those before she had woken up.  
"Is that...?" Colleen pointed, looking less scared that Marisol did, carefully helping her to stand upright.  
"Yeah. A giant metal cat." Marisol was completely awestruck, not quite sure how to feel. She regarded the lion with cautious interest. 

"What are you?" Colleen asked quietly.  
As if replying, the head lifted slightly, opening the mouth to reveal a ramp leading inside of the mechanical beast.  
"Wait, we have no idea what is inside there.” Marisol grabbed Colleen's hand as she strode forward.  
"I've got a good feeling about this, trust me." She patted her hand.  
"I trust you, I'm not sure if I trust the lion thing." Marisol jumped when she heard a quiet growl deep in her head.  
"Did you hear that?"  
"Hear what?" She asked, looking away from the lion.  
"I-uh...Nothing." Marisol shook her head, feeling the pull come back to her. It reassured her, gently coaxing her inside after her friend. 

It was cool and quiet in the lion, completely opposite of the desert outside. Their footsteps echoed as they walked. Colleen ran her hand along the wall.  
"Look at this design! Whomever, or whatever, built you must have been a genius!" Colleen was over the moon, gaping at all the technology around them. It was way more advanced than what they had on Earth, even Marisol could tell that much.

They followed the hallway to a console room, a single chair surrounded by computers. Marisol gently sat down in the chair, her leg starting to ache again from all of the exertion she had been doing. She was completely unprepared for it to lurch forward, narrowly not face-planting straight into the console. Screens lit up as she slid forward, opening up the main screen to view the desert around them, seeing through the lion's eyes.  
"Whoa." Both her and Colleen said, looking around at the screens. 

Marisol was having major _déjà-vu_ , vividly remembering her nightmare.  
"I saw this. Last night in my dream."  
"You saw us in here?" Colleen asked.  
"No, it was like it was out of someone else's point of view, but they were inside of this same lion." She gently tapped the screen in front of her. As soon as she did that, she felt the pull grow even stronger, she could have sworn she heard purring too. 

The screen brought up a video, like the camera feed they had nabbed. It showed a lanky boy in blue and white armor, concentrating as he moved the controls. Even with the helmet on, she recognized him and his voice.

" _Madré de Dios_ , it's Lance!"  
"Are you sure?" Colleen asked as she squinted at the screen besides her.  
“I’d know that face and that voice anywhere." Marisol covered her mouth. She looked at the date at the bottom of the screen. 20-04-15  
"This is from just a few months ago." 

Colleen reached over, tapping the screen again. It looked like there were hundreds of videos, filmed almost every time Lance had flown. Marisol had to control her bottom lip as it trembled, overwhelmed by this revelation. She clicked on a video with the most recent date, about a three weeks ago. Her jaw dropped, watching the staticky camera play out what she had seen the night before. Except this time she was watching Lance. 

_"I'm sorry Blue."_  
The video ended abruptly. 

"No! Where did he go?" Marisol demanded. She tapped the screen, trying to find more recent videos, but they were all from before the date of the last log.  
"Is he okay?" It was a bit ridiculous, talking to a machine, but the pull in her mind throbbed as if answering her question. It wasn't giving her words, but ideas and emotions, and right now, she felt fear and panic coming in choppy waves, like the sea before a storm. Marisol took the controls on either side of her, firmly adjusting her grip.  
"Take me to him." 

As if spurred on by her words, she felt the giant robot move underneath them like she was being pulled by an amusement park ride, roaring so loudly it reverberated through her bones, Colleen whimpering as it shook her. Without warning, the lion sunk back onto its hind paws and launched upwards, taking a leaping bound off of a canyon wall before activating rockets with a blast. 

Colleen grabbed onto the chair, unintentionally grabbing her hair, as she forced herself to stay upright. Marisol screamed, pulling at the controls again to get the lion to stop. They kept traveling up, up, up. Marisol felt like she was going to pass out when they finally reached outer space. The lion changed the angle, but not the speed as it flew through the stars. 

Marisol had always wondered what lie beyond their atmosphere, like any normal human would, but she never thought she would actually get a chance to see it, let alone be brave enough to go. She clenched her teeth and looked over at her passenger. Colleen looked more relaxed than her, as if they were leisurely cruising down a highway rather than launching into space at high speeds.  
"The Garrison had flight simulations. I am used to this.” She shrugged. Marisol on the other hand felt like she was going to be sick again.  
She felt a small tap against her foot, she looked down to see a waste bucket slid out of a panel.

Something bright flashed ahead of them, causing her to gasp in surprise. A vortex of some sort was swirling in the void of space, the deep purple and black not revealing anything that lay beyond. The pull telling her to push the levers towards it, gently tugging on her to reassure her.  
"I think it wants us to go through that?" Marisol shouted, her ears popping from the pressure.  
"Where does it go?" Colleen asked quietly.  
"I-I don't know.” The pull didn't feel threatening, it was warm and familiar, like a call to home. "But you're the one that wanted to trust a giant, metal cat, so it's your call." Marisol tried to keep the mood light, sharing a look with the older woman.  
Colleen readjusted her grip on the chair (thankfully letting go of any of her hair) and nodded firmly. “There's only one way to find out where it goes.”  
"Let's do this." Marisol nodded, pushing both levers forward. They sped towards the bright light, and then it was dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! We're finally getting somewhere!  
> I hope that this was a fun read, feel free to hmu on tumblr @hipsterhufflepuff98 :)


	7. Chapter 7

***

If launching through Earth's atmosphere was bad, then going through this portal thing was ten times worse. The whole craft shook, bouncing the ladies inside around like a ball in an arcade game. The sheer force almost caused Marisol to fall out of the chair, Colleen had already fallen to the ground to protect herself. Marisol felt bile creep up into her throat, but she pushed it down. If she bent over to throw up, she'd most likely whack her head on the console. 

Just as soon as it begun, it stopped with a screeching halt, sending them both flying forwards. It was uneasily silent, both ladies trying to catch their breath (in Marisol's case, she was trying not to throw up). Once she was able to look up without the urge to vomit, Marisol looked around, slightly gasping at the sight. It seemed they had been transported far, far away from home, there was no sign of life anywhere. Not even another planet or moon in sight, just millions of stars that she didn't recognize spreading out in the void of space. 

“Where did this take us?” Colleen muttered, looking around the view for clues to where they were.  
Marisol didn't respond, rubbing the back of her head where the pull was still tugging on her brain stem. It felt like a building migraine, she closed her eyes against the pulsing behind her eyelids.  
Despite her not holding the controls, the lion flew on, as if on auto-pilot. It suddenly occurred to her what had just happened; they went into some sentient robotic alien ship, and let themselves be abducted into space and flew through some kind of portal thingy. And whatever this thing was, it had a plan of its own and was taking them somewhere very far away, probably farther than any known human or drone had ever been. She couldn’t help but shake her head, wait until she told her anti-alien believing Papa about this.

“Marisol, look!” Colleen’s excited voice caused her to open her eyes, following her pointing to something ahead of them. A small white dot was rapidly growing larger. “Whatever that is, it’s coming towards us.”  
“I think we’re heading for it.” Marisol corrected quietly, still wrapping her head around her realization.  
They were silent as they approached the white speck, which grew to be a massive infrastructure with several spires. It made Earth’s tallest towers shrink into the Lego towers that her niece and nephew played with. 

“Is that…a castle?” Marisol asked. There was a giant white castle floating in space, it looked like something out of Star Wars, all it needed was some kind of exhaust pipe to shoot a laser through.  
“It appears so.” Colleen started to giggle, looking down at Marisol’s confused face.  
“What? We’re in outer space, probably farther than any one human has been, riding inside the head of a giant blue lion towards a space castle. How can I not find this funny? Not even the Garrison could come up with this ridiculous scenario to train us.”  
Marisol gave her a tight smile, looking forward again as they approached the castle. The lion gave another purr, one that reverberated throughout her head, and a seamless door opened, giant even compared to the size of the lion. It glided through with ease and made their way in. They landed with a small shudder in a hangar that twenty times the size of the airport hangars back on Earth. Everything was white and bright, like the outside of a castle. 

Marisol nudged her partner and nodded down. They were not alone.  
There was a small crowd of people standing at the end of the hangar, as if it they were waiting for them to disembark from the ship. Marisol shuddered, looking at half a dozen armored people holding weapons. She heard shouting, but due to their height above them and the thickness of the ship's hull, it was distorted. It sounded like they were asking them to leave the ship, surrender any weapons they had, and no harm would come to them if they came in peace. Perhaps the giant blue lion belonged to them? Would they blame them for hijacking their ship, even if they weren't planning on it in the first place? 

"Well, let’s go.” Colleen straightened up, as if she was about to ask them for directions or something.  
“Wait! We don’t know if they’re dangerous or not.” Marisol argued, wondering how the hell was she so calm about this? (Then again, this was the same lady who tracked her down across the country and talked about bad about government institutions in the middle of a coffee shop, so she was either unbothered or just had a really good poker face).  
She shrugged on the backpack, undeterred by that fact. “Maybe they know where our families are? You asked the lion to bring you to Lance, maybe it’s done that?” 

Marisol wanted to argue, mostly not to go out without anything to protect themselves with, but the chair lurched back similar to what it had done before, and practically forced her to stand up. She could have sworn she heard chuffing in the back of her head.  
“The lion wants us to go out. I trust it, trust me?” Colleen gestured to the pulled back chair before starting to walk down the hallway. Marisol sighed, but limped after her companion. She was starting to regret trusting a strange blue lion that crash landed on their planet. 

The lion lowered it’s head and opened it’s mouth, allowing them to walk down a ramp towards the strangers. Most of them were armored, unable to see their faces, similar to what Lance had wore in the lion’s feed. Another one had armor as well, but in shades of blue and orange and they were hooded so their identity was hidden too. Marisol practically glued herself to the back of Colleen, wary of the strangers, but ready to pull her out of the way if they started firing.

The smallest one wearing green armor deactivated and clipped their weapon to their side, crossing into the no man's land between them, pulling off their helmet with fervor. They had brown hair, identical to Colleen’s. The person pulled out a pair of glasses and pushed them up their nose, growing paler at the realization of the people in front of them.

“Mom?” 

Colleen stopped dead in her tracks, not even moved when Marisol ran into her, dropping the bag in shock. Another figure, the one with different armor, rushed forward and pulled down their hood, also revealing a mop of light brown hair. Marisol recognized them together, having seen the one photograph of them together for the past four months, though she had chopped off her hair and he had a giant scar from his jawline to his cheekbone.

“Katie? Matt?” Marisol didn’t have to see Colleen’s face to know that she was crying, rushing forward to meet them halfway as they charged at her, all three of them hugging each other.  
"How did you find us?"  
"Where have you been?"  
"Where's your father?"  
"I've missed you so much."  
All three of them kept talking over each other in the excitement. Marisol felt her chest expand in happiness. Colleen deserved this. The woman had suffered and agonized for almost two years over her family, she had spent countless hours and days grieving, searching, hoping and all of it lead up to this moment, hugging and kissing her children that she feared she would never get to hold again. She couldn't help but wonder how would she react to seeing her brother alive? How would Lance react?

The other members gradually lowered their weapons and approached them, seeing that Pidge’s family couldn’t be as big of a threat as they thought. The one in yellow armor took off his helmet, narrowing his eyebrows in confusion.  
“Wait, so your name isn’t actually Pidge?”  
Pidge, still trying to regain her composure, sent him a look.  
“Do you really think I would infiltrate the Garrison using my real name? Especially after getting caught twice?”  
He held up his hands in defense about to respond, but caught a glimpse of Marisol, who had backed away to allow the family to reunite, trying to blend into the Blue Lion's leg.

“Do I know you?” He asked her, looking her up and down, as if trying to pinpoint what made her so familiar.  
“I would be surprised if you did.” Marisol spoke up, shrugging her hands into her pockets to seem more relaxed, even if every fiber of her being was screaming in fear.  
His furrowed eyebrows jumped up in surprise, making the connection.  
“You’re Lance’s sister, Marisol, right?” He said loudly, gaining attention from some of the others.  
She felt their eyes bore into her, which made her want to disappear into the background once more. 

“Yeah, and you’re his roommate, Hunk. It's nice to meet you in person.” She extended her hand to him. He surpassed her formal gesture and pulled her into a spine-cracking hug, sweeping her off of her feet. She made a small noise in surprise, not expecting him to hug her, (they had only talked once while Lance was in the bathroom and he was in the room, it had been all formalities and awkwardness), it confused her. This was the kind of hug that you gave to someone who you had not seen in forever, not some complete stranger. Maybe he was just like this?  
“Oh my gosh. Oh gosh. I can't believe you're here.” He hugged her even tighter, Marisol swore her eyes were about to pop out of her head, almost squeaking as she slowly suffocated.

“Alright Hunk, put her down before you crush her.” Another voice spoke up. Hunk obliged, patting her shoulders as he gently placed her back on her feet. Marisol gave him a tiny smile, but she could have sworn that he was tearing up looking at her. Be looked away before she could confirm it was true or not, turning back to Colleen and Pidge. Marisol was approached by another man in black armor, a stark white section of hair gave him away to her, but she still let him introduce himself.

“Shiro. Lance has talked a lot about you.” He shook her hand formally, she tried not to flinch from how cold the prosthetic was in her hand.  
“Nice to meet you, Lance has talked about you as well.” Her brother basically idolized this man, especially since he was chosen to pilot the Kerberos mission. ( _“If he can do it, then I have a chance!” He had told her over Skype when it had first aired on the news._ ) 

“We were starting to wonder about the Blue Lion. It’s not very often that they fly off un-piloted.” A feminine voice interrupted them. Marisol looked over to see a dark skinned woman around the same age as her making her way towards them. Her hair was a white as snow and her ears ended in a point. She folded her hands in front of her, giving Marisol a bright smile, displaying tiny pink triangles on her cheekbones. Marisol was a bit caught off guard, finding out that aliens looked so human.  
“I am Princess Allura of planet Altea. Welcome to the Castle of Lions.” She introduced herself, extending a hand for Marisol to shake.  
“Marisol McClain. It's nice to meet you.” Marisol said, wishing she had come up with something else to say, as it was already getting over-used, but her brain was still overwhelmed from everything she was learning in the past 24 hours. 

“We should sit down, catch up on...things.” The Princess offered, turing towards Colleen and the rest of her family, who had joined the rest of the group.  
“That would be great.” Colleen said, wrapping her arms around her children, still a bit teary eyed from their reunion.  
“Yeah, it’ll be nice to see Lance again.” Marisol said with a smile, the biggest one since her arrival. Her stomach flipped as she looked around the room, seeing the group glance at each other, startled and guilty faces at each other. Had she said something wrong? Up until this moment, she hadn’t even realized that his blue armor was missing from the crowd. The panic alarms started going off in her head.

Even with that, Marisol kept on talking in a wavering voice, her chest clenching in fear.  
“Where is he? Still getting his beauty rest? I wouldn’t be surprised if he were still asleep. I always wondered how he could sleep though alarms and everything, he’s such a deep sleeper. I swear he could sleep through a hurricane. But that's our Lance for you." She tittered, but no one was making eye contact with her, looking either at Shiro or the ground. Hunk, who had been beaming just moments ago, wasn’t even trying to hide the tears in his eyes.

“Marisol.” Shiro held out his hand to her, to calm her down, but she backed away from him like she had been burned.  
“Where is my brother?” Marisol demanded, her brain coming to the conclusion before the words left his mouth.  
She had come so far, risked too much, it couldn’t end like this. 

“Lance is gone.” 

“No.” Those three words sent her world crashing down, bursting into billions of pieces around her. Her nightmares had turned into a reality, the one hope that she had so desperately clung to had broken, just like the pull as it slowly eased away into nothingness, more abandoned now than ever.  
It could have been easy to try and deny it, but the guilt over his and everyone else face’s was too genuine, they were grieving too.  
"No!" Her hand covered her mouth and she stumbled away, as if trying to erase what she had just heard. The realization settled in like a shot of morphine, dulling her to everything except her frantically beating heart.

Marisol didn’t notice that she slumped to her knees, even though it should have hurt her injured knee against the too bright floor.  
She didn’t notice that Colleen had left her children, throwing her arms around her to comfort her, maybe even to shield her from everyone else’s gaze.  
She didn’t notice how distraught the team members were, looking down at her with pity and regret. Hunk had started crying now too, gently consoled by Pidge and her brother, the others quietly holding back their grief.  
She didn’t notice Colleen muttering things in her ear, trying to reason with her and to console her as she sobbed into the smaller woman’s shoulder, the ugly and awful noises escaping her mouth that she would have been embarrassed had she been coherent enough. 

What Marisol did notice was the gaping hole in her chest, sinking down into her stomach and through the floor and into the endless expanse of space, gaping and seeming to pull in her deeper and deeper, without a bottom in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that this isn't the end, in fact we're just getting started...


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> This next week is gonna SUCK for me, I am swamped with applying for my program and midterms (yay college) so I'm giving one big update for my lack of posting for the next week or two.  
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also, I don't know Spanish, so sorry in advance if it's wrong :/)

  
_The ocean was her second home. She knew the flow of the tides, when it was safe to swim, which animals should be avoided, and when it was time to return to the shore. She had always looked out at the water for as long as she could remember, even after falling off of their boat as a toddler, she knew she could never leave the ocean. Every time she submerged into the waves, she felt like she was one with the sea. Her mama used to call her La Sirenita, except she wanted to trade her leg for fins._  
_"Mari!" Even as she lay partially submerged in the water, she immediately recognized who was calling out to her. She slowly stood in the water, treading water as her baby brother yelled again. Scraped knees from a nasty fall off of his bike, a couple baby teeth missing, and clutching his plush shark to his chest, Lance looked nervous as he stood at the edge of the water, just barely allowing his toes to touch the salt water._  
_"You know Papa doesn't like it when you swim alone." He tried to chide her, but there was only so much he could do to make his 13 year old sister yield to him, most of which involved running to their mama with fake tears._  
_"I'm not alone." She called back, reluctantly starting her way back towards the shore. "You're here."_  
_"Mama says it's almost dinner time, and if I didn't come and get you, you'd be in big trouble." He said, putting his hands on his hips as she walked out of the _ocean.__  
_"Well, we'd better get back then." She shook her hair like their dog Bean, grinning widely as he shrieked, crying out about how she got Bruce wet._ _"He'll be fine. He was made for the salt water." She gently shoved his shoulder, wrapping a towel around her shoulders._  
_"No he's not! He's a stuffed animal, you dummy." He pushed her back pouting._  
_"I'm not a dummy, we both know who the real dummy is."_  
_"Alex?"_  
_"Yes, Alex is the world's biggest dummy." She laughed as she squeezed the water out of her hair, trying to find her shoes in the sand._  
_"Papa will be upset if he found out about you swimming alone again." He said, uncharacteristically serious as they started walking back home._  
_"Who said Papa will find out?" She raised her eyebrows at him, but he didn't look up at her, fiddling with the fur on Bruce. "It wasn't just Papa worried, was it?"_  
_"No! I mean yes! I mean..." He tried to defend himself._  
_"Lancey Lance." Her tone turned a bit serious. Besides scowling slightly at the baby name she called him, he still wasn't meeting her eyes._  
_"Okay. I didn't see you at first, I thought the tide had dragged you out, or a rip current pulled you under, or a squid wrapped itself around you... Mama gets worried _and then I get scared."__  
_"Oh Lancey." She put her hand on his shoulder, stopping both of them in the middle of the path. "You know nothing bad is going to happen to me, right?"_  
_"But what if it does!" He asked loudly. "What if you go out swimming one day and you never come back?"_  
_"I'm a great swimmer, I didn't get on the swim team for my smiles, did I? Nothing is going to happen to me out there. I promise I will always come back to shore. _And if I don't, I know you and Bruce are going to come out and save me like the heroes you are."__  
_He brightened up at that._  
_"But don't tell anyone that I need my baby brother to come and save me, or you'll be the one in trouble." She pushed his hair out of his face._  
_"You're shit right." He smiled toothily at her._  
_"Lance! You can't say that!" She acted offended. "You gotta use it in the right context. Use damn, it's a better adjective for that sentence."_  
_"Whatever you say Mari."He rolled his eyes at her._  
_She laughed, glad that she alleviated his mood. "Race you back to the house?"_  
_"Eat my dust." He cried as he tried to get a head-start, but Marisol was quicker, pulling him back by the belt loops._  
_"That's not fair!" He protested as they ran, their laughter ringing out in the quiet neighborhood..._

__

_____ _

***

Marisol didn’t even register that time had passed until some drink that was almost too cold to hold and smelled a bit like her brother’s gym bag was placed in front of her. She blinked a couple times. When she had changed rooms? Now sitting in a grand dinning room, a drink in her hand and something warm wrapped around her. She looked down into the purple drink, seeing her bleak, tear-stained face stare back at her. Her hands quietly wrapped around the base of the glass, trying to ground herself into reality.

She could hear the Paladins explaining what had happened to them from the time the camera feeds cut out to now. Though she actually cared, she still found herself tuning out of their conversation. What was the point of those adventures if it reminded her of Lance?  
Hunk excitedly explaining how the process to create Voltron, a giant robot that was the defender of the Universe. Apparently all five humans were pilots of each Lion and could form this mecha through some kind of bond forged in trust or friendship or whatever. He also told epic tales of what they had accomplished since leaving Earth. He made his own sound effects and waved his arms in demonstration, something Marisol would have at least smiled at had this been hours ago, but she continued to stare blankly into her cup.

“So, were fighting against the Galra, the weird purple aliens that look like cats or lizards, and they have us cornered on the Balmara — a sentient planet that creates crystals — and they had just grabbed Shay, the rock girl who risked her life for us, and I figured “What the Hell?” and I pushed the button, and we— Nyoom.” He slapped his hands against each other. “Rocketed on out of there, got back to the castle and saved the day.” Marisol only understood half of what he was saying, she would have to ask Colleen for a more in-depth description later on. She glanced out of her lashes at her friend. Colleen was completely enraptured by the story he was telling, nodding and quietly urging him to go on, asking questions about certain alien things and to clarify terms. 

“Anyways, we had some more adventures since then. A haunted castle, squishy asteroid fight, Pidge bought a cow, and we saved the universe from the biggest bad guy and started taking down a 10,000 year regime. But it’s all in a day's work.” Hunk shrugged, like it was no big deal. “So, how did you two find us?”  
Gently taking one of her hands from her cup and clutching onto it, Colleen did all of the talking, telling them about how she tracked Marisol down and their plan to infiltrating the Galaxy Garrison, looking to Marisol for silent affirmations that some events were correct.

“Wait, hold up. You punched Commander Iverson in the face?” Matt Holt asked her, leaning across the table and staring at her with an amused smile, looking half hysterical with laughter and half horrified at the thought. Marisol didn’t return the smile, nodding quietly.  
“Looks like Keith isn’t the only bad boy anymore.” Pidge teased the boy in the red armor, who had been just as quiet this whole time as she had, he just rolled his eyes and spun his cup on the rim. 

“I still don’t understand, how did you contact the Blue Lion?” Allura asked Colleen quizzically. “They don’t usually make new connections over such a vast distance. Especially with beings they have not met.”  
“Marisol said that she felt a pull, like a connection to something out in the desert. It lead us to this cave in the middle of the desert that had these lion carvings all over it. When Marisol touched one, the whole cave lit up and the Lion came within minutes.”  
“That’s where we found the Blue Lion!” Hunk exclaimed.  
“So you felt an energy pull, like Keith did. That would explain why the Blue Lion took off without any warning.” Shiro nodded his head slowly. "We were just about to get into our own Lions and try to track it down when you showed up."

“What happened to Lance?” Marisol barely registered that she had spoke aloud, not until everyone glanced over at her, surprised that she wasn’t just mediating their conversations anymore. She finally looked up at them, seeing the atmosphere go from casual to somber in a matter of seconds. “I-I want to know. I deserve to know.”  
“Of course, your his sister, you have every right to know.” Shiro looked at her sincerely, Colleen reached out to grasp her arm, rubbing her thumb along her wrist.

“A few weeks ago, we were infiltrating Prince Lotor’s main ship. He’s the illegitimate son of Emperor Zarkon, he rose to power shortly after our battle when we lost Shiro.” Hunk decided to speak up. “We had caught rumors that they had found Shiro on some desolate planet and were holding him in the main fleet. We decided to charge in, Lance and Allura made up the plan and it seemed foolproof.”  
“What we didn’t know was that it was a trap.” Pidge spoke up. “They had found Shiro, but they were ready for us. Needless to say, our plan got fucked.”

“Katie!” Both Shiro and Colleen said scandalously.  
“Messed up.” She corrected herself, not sounding sorry for swearing.  
“Lance and Hunk were protecting the Castle and attacking the forces while Pidge and Keith went in and rescued Shiro.” Allura chimed in. “Lance saw an opening in their defenses and went for it, against better judgement.” Marisol tilted her head slightly towards the alien, she sounded almost accusatory.

“And it worked,” Shiro cut in, seeing the tension grow in Marisol's shoulders at those words. “He bought us enough time to get back to the Green Lion and join the fight. We all were following the Castle to retreat, except Lance. He got caught in a tractor beam after a nasty blast left him incapacitated, it almost took the Blue Lion. Luckily Hunk was able to knock it out of the way and tow it along in the wormhole. We didn't know until we got back that he wasn't in his Lion, he must have gotten ejected and picked up by a smaller cruiser during our retreat. By the time we were able to come back, they were gone.”

Marisol look at all of them in turn, as if silently asking if it was true. The guilty faces were proof enough. Marisol felt a tidal wave of emotions follow, from elation to dread. When Shiro said Lance was gone, she had assumed he was dead. Now she knew her brother was alive but had been captured, her stomach churned. 

“Why haven’t you gone after them yet?” She somehow managed to keep her voice steady.  
“Lotor is very smart and very good at covering his tracks. They disabled the tracking device on Lance’s suit so we couldn’t follow it. He keeps on moving his ship across the Galaxy, faster than what even we can keep up with. It’s dangerous, even with Voltron, let alone only four pilots.” Allura explained. “Shiro was also badly injured during his time away, he had to rest in a healing pod for a few quintants before we could even begin grieving.”  
“So, what’s your plan?” Marisol asked earnestly. This was the time that they would tell her that they were just about to launch a mission that would save her brother, but she was met with silence.  
“We haven’t planned anything.” Keith finally spoke for the first time when no one spoke up. His voice was borderline scathing, aimed at the other three Paladins. Shiro sent him a tired look, but said nothing.

“Nothing?” Marisol asked, hope deflating like a balloon. “This happened weeks ago!”  
“Shiro only woke up from the healing pod a little while ago. We couldn’t afford to take on an entire Galra fleet with only the three of us.” Hunk said softly, wringing his hands together.  
“So, Lance is stuck with apparently the biggest and most dangerous empire in the entire Galaxy, and you have done nothing but sit here with your thumbs up your ass?!” Marisol stood up suddenly, spilling the drink in her hand across the table and dropping whatever was lain over her shoulders back into her chair. These people had the audacity to leave him behind when he saved their lives, and then didn't even try to rescue him! 

“Our thumbs have been nowhere near our rears!” Allura argued, though she sounded a little confused as to why her thumbs would be in such an awkward place. “We have been grieving and healing, we still are. You’re not the only one who lost someone.”  
“I just found out my brother is alive, after a year of believing that he was dead." Marisol spat at them. "Then I got my hopes up when I saw the Lion and the footage, and now you're telling me that you haven't even tried, you just assumed the worse and grieve instead of trying to search. You were his teammates, his friends, and you are letting him down every second that you sit here and do nothing! Don’t you dare put your loss above mine!”  
“No one was honey.” Colleen tried to calm her down, gently placing her other hand on her arm, but Marisol shook her off viciously, seething with rage at this point. 

_“¡Vete a la mierda! ¡Eres inútil!”_

She turned on her heel, grabbing whatever they had draped over her from the chair, and stormed out the giant dinning room, stomping the entire way. She ignored the desperate calling , a door shutting behind her. She had no idea where she was going in this strange place, but it was going to be as far away from those traitors as possible.

***

Colleen watched as Marisol stormed out, feeling as useless as Marisol had accused them of being, even if she had nothing to do with that situation.  
“Should we go after her?” Hunk asked, looking on the verge of tears for the third time today.  
“No.” Colleen spoke. “Unless you want to get cussed out again.”  
“I didn’t mean to anger her. Honestly.” Allura said softly, looking particularly off-put by the human’s outburst. “I was merely stating why we haven’t gone yet.”  
“It isn’t you. It’s the situation that she’s channeling her anger through towards you.” Colleen explained, reciting what a grief therapist had told her once when she had gotten upset at the therapist. “What she said shouldn’t be taken too personally. I’ll talk to her once she’s cooled down.” 

“Mom?” Katie asked for her attention. “What did she mean when she said that they thought Lance was dead?”  
“The Garrison told me, they told all of your families, that you three had died in a flight simulation. It was that, or reveal the entire scandal of the Kerberos Mission and what happened with you a year later.” Matt and Keith set their jaws angrily while Katie and Hunk both looked heartbroken.  
“I’m so sorry, Mom.” 

“I knew it wasn’t true. If they lied about Kerberos, then I knew they were hiding something about you.” Colleen reassured her daughter and the yellow paladin, reaching out to rub their arms. “That’s why she was so distraught earlier, she truly thought he was here.” 

“I had no idea.” Allura said quietly, looking forlornly at the humans in front of her. “About any of it. When I asked all of you to be Paladins, I never considered what you were leaving behind, or the grief it would cause your families."  
“Well, it’s no use crying over it now.” Colleen said. “What we can do is start planning.”  
“Mrs. Holt is right, we’ve done enough idling and enough grieving. We need to get Lance back.” Shiro said, taking a darker more authoritative tone. “Matt, can you contact the Resistance, maybe the Blade of Marmora too? We’re going to need their intel to figure out where Lotor is.”  
“Yes, I can. I’ll have Coran set up a hailing frequency now.” Matt nodded, rushing out of the room without hesitation.  
“There is really nothing more we can do until we get an answer from with of them, so I would recommend getting some rest. Who knows when we’ll get more time down. Tomorrow, we'll start to find Lance and bring him home. For all of us.” The other Paladins and Allura nodded gravely before walking out the same direction that Matt had. 

“You coming Mom? I’ve gotta show you the decryption codes I've made.” Katie asked her, her eyes lighting up with excitement. She was so much like her, so eager and inquisitive with technology, it was like looking in a mirror. Her father would have been so proud.  
“In a moment sweetheart, you go ahead.” She glanced back at Shiro, who had slumped back over slightly in his chair, looking as if the weight of the universe rested on his shoulders again.  
Katie nodded and gave her another tight hug before running to catch up to Hunk.  
Colleen waited until the last door closed before stepping forward. It had been a long time since the either of them talked, before the launch at least, but Shiro looked to have aged twenty years since they had last seen each other. She supposed that she couldn’t talk, she was sprouting more gray hair and worry lines as well. 

“Shiro?” She asked quietly, gaining his attention.  
“Mrs Holt, I’m sorry I haven’t greeted you properly.” He stood up and gave her a smile, even if it was strained. Always the gentleman, even after what he had been through in the past two years.  
“Takashi, I’ve told you to call me Colleen about a million times.” They had known each other since he was an aspiring cadet that Matt would bring him over for dinner so often that she would set a place for him, (even after being declared dead), yet he still insisted on calling her Mrs Holt like she was a Garrison professor or something. She opened up her arms to him. After a moment’s hesitation, he bent down and accepted her hug, burrowing his head into her shoulder. A small part of her wondered when the last time he was hugged was.

“You saved my son and my daughter. I can never thank you enough for what you have given me back.”  
“I’m sure if the tables were turned, your family would have done the same.”  
“It’s not about the roles being reversed. It’s about you stepping up when no one asked you.” Colleen insisted. “You took on the leadership role for these kids, you’re leading this team and doing a marvelous job at it.”  
“I wouldn’t say marvelous.” He looked downwards. “I’ve made mistakes, ones that costed me members of my crew.” He sighed, admitting some of his stress.

“You had no power in that situation. What happened to Marisol’s brother is not on you.”  
“I should have been there to protect him. I played favorites, focused too much on certain people on the team. I made him feel like he needed to prove his worth. Every second that he is in the Galra’s hands is my fault.”  
“Oh, Takashi. Why must everything be your fault? The past is the past, it has happened. What matters now is reuniting that family, your family. You are not in this alone.”  
“I…I really needed to hear that." Even fearless leaders needed pep talks sometimes. "We’re going to get Lance back, and Sam.”  
“I have never doubted you before.” She assured him with a tight smile. "No reason to start now."

***

Marisol isn’t quite sure how she ended up back at the hangar with the Blue Lion, but she stumbled her way through the castle, half blinded by rage and half by her knee starting to throb. She continuously wiped her face, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. She was an angry crier, hell she cried with every emotion that she had. This time was no different, but she was slightly glad that she didn’t cry in front of the group. The last thing she needed was more tears to take away from her point. 

Surprisingly the Blue Lion still had its jaw opened, allowing her to enter the mechanical beast. She didn’t have enough energy in her to make any hasty decisions, like fly off and find her brother herself (even though the idea was tempting), her lack of skills and experience kept her grounded. She simply sat in the pilot’s chair, glad that it didn’t rocket forward like the last few times. 

Now that she was seated and calmer, she was chilled to the bone. She looked down in her clenched fist that held what was draped over her shoulders in the dining hall, but the realization caused her to burst into tears all over again. 

It was Lance’s jacket.

It was a basic army coat, orange stripes on the sleeves the only decoration, it was a bit more worn than she remembered, a small hole worn in the cuff of one of the sleeve. She thought back to him getting it for his birthday before he went back to school, a small congratulations gift for getting into the Fighter Class. He was beyond ecstatic, wearing it all the time despite it being around 100 degrees outside most days. Marisol gently let the garment go, her hand aching from gripping it so tightly. She pulled it on, already feeling warmer. It was a size too big for her, her hands couldn’t reach the ends, but she bunched up the extra fabric in her fists, breathing in slowly. It still smelled like Lance, like the desert wind and some kind of cheap cologne that he wore. As weird as it was to breathe in her brother’s scent like this, she let it wrap around her, as if he was there hugging her himself. She briefly wondered who grabbed it for her, if they knew it was his and that it might help. She sent out a silent thank you to whomever it was. 

“God, I’m so overdramatic.” She burrowed her head into her knees, slightly regretting blowing up at the people who had graciously welcomed her. She felt embarrassed, but she felt that her anger was justified, even if she had stormed off in a hissy fit like a toddler. 

Lance wasn’t just some drone to be replaced when he no longer served his purpose, he was a human being with a life and feelings. Being in as big of a family as they had, it was pretty easy to get overlooked by family members due to other's achievements. It had happened to all of them at one point, but it affected Lance more than he would ever admit to anyone else. Marisol had a habit of seeing through his bullshit facade though, trying to highlight his accomplishments when he was forgotten about. That's part of what made them so close.

She was going to help them find her brother, but if anything happened to him while he was gone, Marisol wasn’t sure if she would forgive the team. 

She stuck her hands into the pockets, coming across a folded paper tucked away. She gripped it tightly and brought it out, ignoring the fact that she was invading her brother’s privacy. Unfolding it carefully, she looked at what he kept in his pocket, half expecting it to be something mundane like a grocery list. She felt the corners of her mouth turn up, seeing familiar faces smile back up at her.  
It was a photo of all of her siblings at Alejandro’s wedding five years ago, well before any talk about going off to space or college. Lance was being held in a headlock by the groom, while Sasha was trying to fix her hair, Marisol laughing at the show the boys were putting on. It was probably the most accurate picture of all of her siblings, also Lance’s favorite picture, proven by how many times it had been folded over and the smudges over the glossy surface. Marisol traced a finger over Lance, as if that would bring him to life.

“I’m gonna find you. I promise.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live, just barely though...
> 
> Anyways, this chapter finally gets the ball rolling. We find out more about Lance, apologies are made, and Marisol may or may not catch feels. 
> 
> I should be back on my usual updating schedule so look out for more updates coming on Tuesdays and Fridays. Please leave kudos and comment below!

***

She didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until the distant sound of someone distantly calling her name woke her. Marisol forced her tired eyelids open and rubbed away the crust that had gathered around her eyes, feeling no less refreshed than before, but sleep was still sleep. The photo was still clutched tightly in her hand, as if it would disappear if she let go. She carefully smoothed out the indents from her grip and folded it back up in his pocket. Looking out the window, she could see Colleen standing in the doorway of the hangar, looking up at the Lion almost expectantly. It was time to stop sulking and face the issues. She brushed her fingers through her hair and leaned over to grab the bag she hadn't brought down the night before.   
The Lion allowed her to exit with a bow of its head, strangely quiet today. Marisol ran her fingertips across the cool metal as she descended, coming face to face with Colleen. 

Colleen looked much better than she had since Marisol had known her, the constant bags under her eyes and worry lines around her mouth were almost nonexistent, a hesitant smile on her face.  
"How are you doing?" The smile fell slightly as she regarded the younger woman. Marisol probably looked as horrible as she felt.  
"Better than last night." She croaked. It wasn't much, but she didn't feel like wanting to yell or sulk anymore, so that was a good sign.  
"Good, the team wanted to talk with you. They're meeting with some Resistance people now, so I thought you could have time to shower off and compose yourself beforehand."   
Marisol nodded, shoving her hands into her pockets, rubbing the glossy photograph like it was a secret.

Colleen led her out of the hangar. The castle was bigger than she could ever imagine, briefly wondering how they didn't get lost through the mazes of halls that looked exactly the same. Everything was bright white and blue, it was cold but homey at the same time.   
The two women stopped at a door that was identical to the hundreds of doors they had passed. 

"This is the guest quarters, where they would have diplomats and honored guests stay in the castle. Each of these rooms has its own bathroom and other accommodations. The Paladins sleep down there a ways." She nodded down the endless corridor. "Allura said that we may make ourselves at home during our stay. Do you want me to wait for you to shower?"   
Marisol nodded immediately.   
"I-um, I don't know where they want to meet me when I'm done." She tried to cover her eager answer with indifference, the last thing that she wanted was to get lost in the castle. If she noticed, she didn't comment on it.  
Colleen gently laid her hand on the blue panel next to the door. It opened with a quiet whooshing sound, showing a small, dark room. It wasn't much, just a bed tucked into an alcove in the wall, an empty closet, and a door that must have led to the bathroom she had mentioned. 

The lights turned on automatically as the entered. Marisol let her bag slide off her arm and onto the bed, pulling the zipper to open it. Colleen settled on the other side of the bed, pulling out an orange tablet to keep her occupied while Marisol was cleaning up. As she grabbed her clothes and the medical supplies for her knee, Marisol caught a glimpse of strange symbols that pop up on the holographic screen. Colleen seemed to understand them, eyebrows furrowing and typing furiously. Obviously busy, Marisol excused herself to the bathroom, the door shutting behind her with a small hiss.

The bathroom was quite small, only a toilet on one wall, a mirror and shelving unit on the other side, and a shower head attached to the ceiling. There were knobs that must have operated the shower head, but there was no indication of which one was which, written in some foreign characters. It took a couple tries, soaking herself with an indignant noise in the process, but she finally got it running and warmed up. She peeled off the sopping wet clothes and stood under the water. It wasn't a constant stream like showers back on Earth, more like a drizzle that reminded her of rain. She grabbed the bottles that were on the shelf, but they too were also in the language she didn't understand. She used her best judgement, letting the tangy yet sharp smelling soap wash away the grime that had collected over the past few days. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that she was back home, waiting for one of her siblings to pound on the door and demand the bathroom. If only that were the case...

She fiddled with the knobs until the water stopped and snatched a towel off the rack. Drying off, she changed into her clothes, struggling a tiny bit with her pants because of her injured knee. She had wrapped it tightly, ignoring the twinge of pain that ran up and down her leg. It was still throbbing and not it's normal size, but it was healing. Marisol draped the towel across her shoulders, water seeping into her shirt from her wet hair. She copied what Colleen had done earlier to a blue panel on the inside of the bathroom, holding her wet, dirty clothes out as she walked out, feeling cleaner but no less tired. 

Colleen swiped the screen of numbers away and put down the tablet as Marisol dropped her clothes back into her bag. She could tell Colleen was looking to her, but Marisol focused on unnecessarily refolding her clothes, avoiding what should have been a reprimand. She shouldn't have gotten so angry, she deserved whatever harsh words Colleen could think of. She swallowed some ibuprofen for her knee, which still hurt to walk on, but she could manage to walk without limping. She grabbed a brush to tame her wet snarled hair, but a small white hand grabbed her wrist.   
"Let me." Colleen said, gently prying the brush out of her hand, tapping her foot where she wanted Marisol to sit in front of her on the floor. Sighing, she eased her way down, letting her injured lay out in front of her.   
Colleen started to methodically brushed her hair, gently working out snarls and tangles in silence, Marisol tried not to show how antsy she was about the incoming lecture, clenching and unclenching her fists in her lap. 

"I wanted to apologize about your brother." She said after a stretch of time, whispering even though they were alone.  
"If anyone should be sorry, it's me." Marisol interrupted, bowing her head in shame. "I'm the one who yelled at everyone. I was angry, but that doesn't give me the right to cuss them out."  
"You have every right to be angry about your brother being gone, but try not to take it out on them. They truly care for him too and felt his loss." Colleen said as she eased her head back up, starting to pull her hair so it was out of her face. "But your words got their act together. You just have to trust them and have a little patience."  
"It's easier said than done." She muttered.  
"I know. But you have to try." She gently tied her hair, Marisol felt the braid as it rested over her shoulder and fell down in an pattern to her rib cage. Marisol had no idea how to braid her hair, touched by the gesture and her words.  
"Thank you."  
"I used to do Katie's hair when she was upset too. Now her's is too short to braid it, so I guess you'll have to put up with it." Colleen rubbed her hands across her shoulders and stood up. Not for the first time, nor the last time, Marisol was glad that Colleen had picked her to travel across the US (and now space) with. Marisol grabbed a dry pair of boots and Lance's jacket before getting up to follow her. 

They walked in complete silence together, not even the sound of an engine from the castle to fill the quiet. It was nothing like the ships back on Earth, exactly how advanced were these people?  
"I think this is the right room." Colleen said, pressing her hand against a panel that opened a door to a command center. She nodded happily as they entered, Marisol was entranced by the giant windows that displayed a gaseous orange planet and millions of stars. 

"Colleen, Marisol, glad to see you found your way." Marisol snapped her head away from the windows to see Shiro walking towards them. The rest of the Paladins were sitting in color coordinated chairs, either staring at blue screens or at a giant map that appeared to encompass the entire room. Allura wasn't making eye contact with her, Marisol felt guilt rise once again. Pidge and Hunk swiped the screens away before standing up as well. "We should talk."

"Before that." Marisol interrupted, looking around at everyone, especially Allura who had been the most affected by her words. "I want to apologize to all of you. What I said and did last time we spoke was completely rude and childish on my part. Lance is your friend too, and I shouldn't have gotten angry. I am still angry, but it's at this Prince Lotor guy than towards you, and I will use that anger to helping you find Lance."  
"Thank you, but you have every right to be upset with us." Allura said. "Lance should have been our first priority, but the past is the past. We are going to find our Blue Paladin and bring him home." Allura and Marisol nodded understandingly at each other, finally on the same page. 

"Why don't you tell us what you've found out?" Colleen asked, Shiro leading Marisol and her towards an empty chair. Judging by the blue lights, this must have been Lance's. Marisol sat down and tucked her feet underneath her, listening in.   
"According to the Blade of Marmora's intel, Lance is most likely with the Galra's main fleet, but they're almost impossible to track. With Zarkon, it was easy to find him because he hardly ever moved his entire fleet away from the center of the Empire, but Lotor is being smart, never staying in one place for too long." Shiro explained.  
"I'm trying to use the Galra Finder to track the fleet, but they must have some new cloaking device to hide them from our scanners." Pidge chimed in. "We'll need to do some serious out-of-the-box thinking to find a way around it."  
"Luckily for us, we have Earth's brightest and finest tech residents on our side. If anyone can figure it out, it'll be you three." Shiro looked fondly at Pidge, Hunk, and Colleen. 

"While they come up with that, we are still going to need a temporary pilot for the Blue Lion." Allura stated solemnly. "The universe still needs Voltron, even if we are one Paladin short."   
"What were you thinking?" Pidge asked.  
"Marisol, you said you had a pull towards the lion, correct?" Marisol snapped her head up at that, feeling her eyes widen in realization.

"Me? No. I can't." She shook her head.  
"Why not? You have already flown the Blue Lion."   
"I wasn't flying it, it was on autopilot." Marisol explained hurriedly. "Hell, I was too busy trying not to throw up to fly it."  
"Happens to the best of us." Hunk shrugged.   
"I'm not a pilot. I-I don't have the training."  
"Neither did Hunk or I, but we've managed." Pidge said. "It isn't just about skill, it's about trusting the Lion and working together." 

"Look, all of what you're saying might be true, but I'm no Paladin. I can barely drive a car well, let alone fly a giant fighting robot through space. If I remember correctly, last night you said Voltron needed a bond with others as well. I'm a complete stranger to you, there's no way we can bond in time for when we need to form it. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to find someone else." Marisol said her piece, slightly ashamed but firm. 

"You're a hypocrite." She turned her head towards the Red Paladin, who had been silent this entire exchange, shrinking back from the deadly glare he was throwing at her. "You get on us for having responsibility, but when the time comes you're too scared to step up. None of us were prepared, but we took responsibility without even thinking about it, you're just thinking about yourself."  
"I'm not just thinking about myself! She argued, part of her wanting to stand up and get in his face, but a gentle hand on her shoulder from Colleen held her back. "I wouldn't want a novice behind the wheel of the universe's only hope. I'm sorry I'm not Lance."   
"No, you're not Lance. You are a coward, and he would be ashamed of you." He strode out of the room angrily, ignoring Shiro's calls to him as the door shut behind him. He never raised his voice to her, but his words cut deeper than a sword through the chest.

Allura sighed exasperated, but Marisol could guess it wasn't just from her denial.   
"Why don't you just fly the Blue Lion? You've done it before." Hunk asked her.   
"I don't believe that I should be piloting the Blue Lion anymore. I'm much better at flying the castle." She twiddled with her thumbs.   
"Princess," a new voice pipped in. A tall ginger man Marisol had yet to meet. "Is this about the last mission you flew?"   
"No!" She sounded scandalized. "I gave Lance the Lion because he was the original Paladin, not because I couldn't handle flying it."  
"The Lions can change pilots, we all know that."   
"I shouldn't take his Lion from him, especially since he is..." her eyes shifted over to Marisol. "Since he is not here."   
"You're not taking the Lion from anyone. They do not belong to one person alone." Shiro said. "You said it yourself, the Universe needs Voltron. And you are a great pilot, both of the castle and the Blue Lion." 

She still didn't look convinced.   
"It wouldn't hurt to try, Princess." The ginger haired man said gently.   
Allura sighed, finally looking up. "I'll try, but once Lance is back, he will be the sole pilot, understood?"   
"Yes Princess." Shiro said, stepping out of the way to let her exit the bridge. 

Marisol heard Shiro start to talk to Pidge about something, but it faded to white noise as she stared at the floor, picking a loose thread in the sleeve. The words were starting to get to her now. Everything that Keith had accused her of was completely true. She was too proud to admit that she was terrified. But she was also right; she wasn't like them. She wasn't a brilliant pilot like Shiro, Keith, or Lance. She wasn't smart like Colleen, Pidge, or Hunk were. She wasn't a leader like Allura. She was just some kid that got the unfortunate fate of being sucked into space, she was just trying to find her brother. She was terrified of getting someone hurt or in the same position that Lance was currently in, or any of that happening to her. If that made her a coward, then she was the biggest coward in space. 

"Okay then Pidge, Hunk, and Colleen will get the interface started. Coran," (the ginger man finally had a name), "keep scanning for signs of the main fleet or any Galra cruisers. I'm gonna go talk to Keith." Shiro sent a sympathetic glance her way, before walking out the door. Marisol turned towards Colleen, but she had already made her way over to her daughter and Hunk, talking in tech terms that Marisol didn't understand.   
Seeing that everyone was busy and no one had given her any orders, she left the main control room silently. 

Marisol ended up wandering around. She couldn't go back to the hangar, since Allura was bonding with the Blue Lion, and everyone else was busy so she was on her own, wandering through the strange castle with no destination in mind. Her footsteps echoed through the silent halls, signifying how alone she was now. 

She ended up at a dead end, curiosity getting the best of her as she gently laid a hand on the panel to open the door.   
It was giant white room, a box with one-way glass perched high up on the opposite wall. The floor was slightly cushioned, sinking slightly under her weight as she stood in the door. She was about to turn around and leave, but grunting and the sounds of fighting caught her attention. 

Colleen's son, Matt, was fighting a robot with a long thin staff, batting it away with a similar looking staff. He had abandoned the heavy chest armor and hood he had greeted them with, standing in dark pants and a blue t-shirt. Marisol probably should have left, seeing he was obviously busy too, but she was enthralled watching him move around. He had such a grace to him, the way that he moved and fought, the staff was just an extension of himself precisely hitting blow after blow to the robot. After a particularly heavy blow, the robot skidded across the room, the bright blue light dying as it came to a halt at her feet. Matt acknowledged that she was in the room at that point, wiping sweat off of his brow. 

"Oh, hey. Didn't know you were there." He waved to her, giving her a genuine grin.   
"I, um, Sorry, I didn't mean to creep on you." She rubbed her arm awkwardly, only now realizing how creepy she had been, staring so openly at him.  
He shrugged, obviously not bothered.   
"Would you mind handing me that?" He nodded at a small water pouch near the door. Marisol picked it up and made her way over to him. He wiped off his face with a white towel and took the pouch from her with a quiet thank you.   
"Did they need me for something?" He asked her, nodding back towards the door she had entered through.   
"Oh no, no. I was just walking around, looking for something to do, I guess." She reminded herself that she had no major role for this team, just merely hanging around doing nothing too special. 

"Hey, I didn't get a chance to talk to you last night, but I wanted to thank you." Marisol look up at him, tilting her head slightly. "You brought my mom to us, you brought her back to me. I never thought I would see her again. I don't know if I could ever repay you for reuniting my family."   
"You're welcome, but I didn't really do much, the Lion is what brought us here, not me. I was just kind of there." Marisol shrugged off his compliment.   
"But you did." He insisted. "She told me about what you've done, everything you've risked for a chance to get her family back together. It takes more than just being there. It was very brave of you." 

Marisol dug the tip of her boot into the ground, not really believing what he was saying.   
"Look, I heard about what happened." Matt said, shrugging when she looked up in confusion. "I heard Keith and Shiro arguing outside a little bit ago, just before you came in. You should not be forced to do something that scares you."  
"I'm not scared." Marisol corrected him, even though she was, she didn't want anyone else to know.   
"You'd be an idiot to not be." Matt corrected her, patting a spot on the ground next to him. She sat down next to him, trying not to groan as an ache from her injury grew, leaning against the wall. 

"Look, I've spent two years in space, most of which I was held as a prisoner. If there is one thing that I know to be true, space is scary as hell."  
"Weren't you a cadet at the Garrison?" Marisol asked.  
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. The Garrison doesn't train you for abduction by hostiles or spending all of your time and energy trying not to die, not knowing whether you were ever going to be free or if you'd ever see your family again. What the Garrison does train you for is to follow orders without question, regardless if you don't like them or if they scare you."  
"So, what you're saying is that I should have piloted the Lion?" Marisol asked, not quite sure what his point was.   
"No no, you're not a cadet like the rest of them. They made an oath to each other and the universe. You're someone who wants to find their brother, no matter the cost." He said with a small smile. "You don't need to be a Paladin to do that." 

"Thanks Matt." Marisol said quietly, just sitting in silence for a few moments. His words sent a small fluttering in her chest, both of pride and a little bit bashful. Was that...  
 _'Nope, no way. You just met him and he's the son your your friend. No crushes.'_   
Although Colleen had never mentioned if he had a girlfriend back home...  
 _'No!'_

"Actually, there is something you can do for me."  
"Anything." He nodded earnestly.  
"Teach me how to fight." Marisol motioned towards his staff laying across his lap.   
"Huh?"  
"I may not be able to fly a giant lion through space, but I want to kick the Galra's ass, and I've just seen you fight, you obviously know how to fight."   
"Marisol, I don't know if we have time. It took me almost six months to get where I am now, and I'm still considered a amateur to most of my superiors."  
"Maybe you're a better teacher than those who taught you. I catch onto things quickly, I'll work hard. Please? I don't want to be useless anymore." She couldn't help the begging in her voice. She gritted her teeth, waiting for him to reject her again. 

He sighed. "Well, no time like the present." Matt got to his feet, offering her a hand up. "I think there are some training staffs back here somewhere. We'll start with how to hold it." 

***

Marisol was right, she could learn very quickly. By dinner time, she could do most of the stances he taught her from memory and block several of his light attacks. 

"How did you do that?" Matt asked as she threw the staff over her head in an arc, ducked around his blow, and catching it with both hands, ready to continue fighting.  
"Color Guard. I wasn't made captain my senior year just because I have a great smile." She smiled, tossing the staff again, spinning around before catching it with one hand. The staff she was holding was about the same weight and feel of the flags she used to spin, old habits kicking in. "I can get an 1800 on a rifle."   
"Sounds impressive." Matt laughed as they walked out of the training room, heading towards the dinning room. 

She asked several questions about the style of fighting as they walked, it reminded her of some kind of Kung Fu that her eldest brother would do at the dojo downtown. He reminisced about when he was learning, telling the story about how he nearly gave himself a concision from getting too cocky with a flip. It was quite easy to talk with him, which did not help the butterflies breaking free of their cocoons in her belly.   
_'Don't jump the gun, McClain.'_

The rest of the team (minus Keith, but Marisol was still hurt by his words so she didn't mind) was sitting at the table, eating something that looked like green jello. 

"Marisol, I was wondering where you had gone." Colleen said as they entered, looking up from a tablet that her, Pidge, and Hunk were crowded around. Allura, Coran, and Shiro were around a map at the end of the table, probably talking about strategy.   
"Wandered around for a bit, talked to Matt." Marisol shrugged as a bowl of goo was slid down to her. She didn't mention that she was training, worried about raising questions to why, so she kept the focus Colleen. "Any luck with the tracker?"  
"Not really." Hunk admitted, rubbing his eyes. "But Pidge has a hunch that we're looking into."   
"I think we can track Lance through the Blue Lion, but it's proving to be a little more difficult since we don't have Lance's connection with the Lion."   
"What exactly is the connections you have with the Lions? I'm not sure I understand how it works." Marisol asked before taking a bit of the food, it was almost tasteless, melting on her tongue. 

"The Lions are sentient." Allura said from the opposite side of the table, looking up from a star map. "They are the ones that choose a pilot, and they are quite picky with whom they chose. The quintessence has to match up perfectly with the pilot."  
"What's quintessence?" Colleen asked.  
"It's like your life force, the parts of you that make you, well you." Hunk explained, gesturing with his hands. "Each person has different elements that make up their quintessence, it's kinda like a fingerprint but with your whole being." 

"That's...interesting. So can two people that have similar quintessence bond with the Lions?"   
"We thought not for a long time, but we did have some issues with the Black Lion and Zarkon a while back, but Shiro forged a stronger bond in the end." Allura said, looking proudly at Shiro.   
"Plus the Lions can allow someone who is not their Paladin to pilot them for a short while." Shiro said. "Keith piloted Black, Allura flew Blue, and Lance piloted Red while I was gone, right?"   
"Yeah, and I think that's why you were able to fly the Lion." Pidge piped in. "Either the Lion recognized it was an emergency or your's and Lance's quintessence matches up just enough."  
"But Allura was able to fly the Lion, right?" She cast a glance around to her.  
"I think she understood it once I explained it to her. Tomorrow we can try training together to see if this is going to work for the time being." Allura said softly, Coran reaching across to pat her hand.   
"It'll be fine."

"That's good." She smiled slightly and focused on the food in front of her. Despite being filling, it lacked flavor or anything that resembled food.   
"What I wouldn't give for some _empanadas_ right now." She sighed to herself as she inspected the food, letting the goop plop back into her bowl.   
"I love _empanadas_!" Hunk jolted upright, having heard her longing, looking excitedly at her. "Lance and I used to make these ones with little baby shrimp and some honey _picante_ sauce back at the Garrison when we were allowed on leave."   
"My mama used to make that and _ropa vieja_ for our holidays. She has this recipe that her mama's mama gave to her, everyone keeps adding to it over the years." Marisol said excitedly.   
"Ugh, I need to visit Cuba. They have the best food."  
"You're not wrong." She smiled brightly. "When this is said and done, you're invited to stay with us. My family has a huge house in Varadera Beach that they rent out every summer. It's right on the beach and could fit everyone in this castle very comfortably." 

"It sounds really lovely." Allura said wistfully. "We'll have to visit sometime." By the way that she spoke, it sounded like 'sometime' was quite some ways in the future.   
"We'd be honored to have all of you." Marisol said honestly, feeling some of the burden that everyone carried on their shoulders settle over the room like a smoke over a fire. Just enough to see through it, but still thick enough to be dangerous. Marisol could only hope that this could be resolved and it was a matter of when, not if.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the late update, but better late than never, am I right?
> 
> Also, Season 5 is wonderful! I thoroughly loved it. Which leads me to my slight predicament. I wrote this story a long time ago, well before season 3 aired and back when many people were still speculating about Prince Lotor. I kind of ran with the vibe I got from the 80's show and other author's interpretations of how he would turn out. Part of me wants to continue with the Lotor that I wrote originally rather than the cannon Lotor, but a lot can change with characters (we still don't know if he's 100% good or is just sticking around until something better comes along). 
> 
> I might just take what I have a run with it, but if it's really unpopular, I might be able to change it... 
> 
> Let me know what you think of Lotor or Season 5 down below. Also please leave Kudos and Comment, they truly brighten my day :)

***

Weeks drug on.  
There was no sign of the main fleet or any patrols that they could sneak onto and steal information from. It was as if the entire Galra race had disappeared from the Universe. Voltron was hardly ever summoned, only for diplomatic visits to planets to get them to join the alliance. 

Everybody in the Castle was reaching the end of their patience. The Galra Finder was proving to be nearly useless in finding Lance, Pidge nearly launched it out of the airlock out of frustration (barely stopped by her mother, who made her go to bed and sleep it off). Even the optimists like Hunk and Coran were starting to have their doubts about finding the fleet and her brother, but after Marisol overheard and threatened the safety of their possessions and the airlock, they kept the thoughts to themselves. Everyone was tired, overworked despite there being no incoming threat.

Marisol and Matt spent most of their time training together. She had caught on quick with the staff, which surprised both of them, but it took her a while for it all to click together. She was glad that the floor had some cushion because she spent most of her time being thrown on it by the Gladiator. Bruises and aches were common, especially with her barely healed leg. Matt tried to coach her from the sidelines, give her some encouragement, but she was starting to get frustrated, mostly at herself rather than at her teacher. 

Despite Matt telling her that she should rest for the day, going to take a nap himself, she was right back in the training room, tying her hair back and gripping the staff with more determination than before.  
"Start training Level 3.” Marisol said to the empty room. A heartbeat later, a gladiator dropped from the ceiling. 

She always let it make the robot make the first move, more of a defensive fighter. She tried to remember the sequence Matt had taught her, but the Gladiator had her on her back within a minute, sending a shock wave of pain through her. The robot fighter powered down, but Marisol got back up. "Start training sequence again." She commanded, the Gladiator returning to life and springing towards her. 

Three more times she ended up on her ass, each time more forcefully than before, as if the robot was telling her to stop. She slapped the floor in a brief rage fit. A very angry part of her wanted to snap the training staff in half and give up. If she wasn't getting it now, she feared that she'd never get it. She wasn't as close to the fighting levels of everyone else on the ship as she needed to be, she was never going to be able to find her brother at this rate.  
Then a very radical idea came to her, it went against what Matt was teaching her, but he wasn’t in the room to notice. Worse comes to worse, she ends up on her back again and no one would be the wiser.  
"Screw it, let's go." She said quietly, getting back to her feet and starting the sequence again. 

This time, she didn't hesitate to surge forward, going directly on the offensive. She let all inhibitions go, trusting herself rather than the instructions she had been given. They were still there, and she did apply them when she saw the opportunity, but she didn't follow them step by step like before. She had been approaching fighting like dancing; a series of choreographed movements when flourishes could be added in at the final performance, but fighting was completely the opposite, if she thought too much about it, she might end up with worse than bruises. With a strangled yell, she saw her opening and whacked the Gladiator full force in the chest, watching as it fell down and the light flickered off, marking her first victory. Turns out all she had to do was not overthink it, maybe she should have radical thinking more often.

She felt something move behind her, immediately lunging out with the staff. A gloved hand grabbed the end before she could strike the person in the chest.  
"I surrender." Keith said monotonously.  
Marisol dropped the staff back to her side with a slight scowl. Her and Keith had been avoiding each other since what he had said weeks ago. Was it a bit childish? Yes, but Marisol couldn't help it, and it wasn't like he was trying to mend fences either. 

"Can I help you?"  
"Pidge wanted to talk to you on the bridge. She sent me to come and find you."  
"Okay." She said curtly, walking over to a hidden corner where the staffs went, pressing a button to slid them back into the wall. She pulled her sweaty shirt off, wiping the rest of the sweat off of her before pulling on another t-shirt and Lance’s jacket. She left her bag where it was, figuring that she would be back soon enough. 

Both of them were stoic as they walked through the halls, obvious to the tension that hung between them but not willing to do anything about breaking it. Marisol couldn’t quite figure out what his deal was. He was moody towards everyone, even Shiro, and spent most of his day in another training room meant exclusively for the Paladins to train. She had asked Pidge about it one evening as she watched her work on the Galra finder, merely earning a shrug from the younger girl.  
“Honestly, we’re used to him being like this on occasion when he was stressed out, but he hasn’t been this bad since Shiro went missing.”  
She was a bit glad that it wasn’t just her that he was taking his anger out on.

When she entered the command center, she was surprised to find everyone crowding around Pidge, who was squatting next to Lance’s chair, looking up to her expectantly when they heard her arrive. Keith silently walked over to stand next to Shiro, staring out the giant windows.

"Marisol." Pidge greeted her first, looking away from her computer and standing up. "We were wondering...well more like hoping that you could do something for us."  
"What can I do?" She shrugged her hand into the jacket pockets, gently rubbing the folded photo. Until this moment, she hadn't thought that she could play a part in the rescue mission, that she was just here until Lance was found. What could she do that they couldn't?

"As you know, we haven't been able to track Lance down with his connection with the Blue Lion or through any Galra ships. Honestly, we're starting to run out of ideas. But then I remembered your connection."  
"I thought my connection was with the Blue Lion, and that died off almost as soon as we got here." Marisol asked.  
"That's what I thought too, and you're right. Your connection wasn't with the Lion, it's with Lance." 

"How?" She had never heard of having a mental connection with anything, no less a actual human. To Marisol, that was more like science fiction than reality. Then again, she was standing in a futuristic castle that was housing five giant space cats that saved the universe.  
"No clue." Pidge shrugged. "I've heard of twins having a faint connection with each other, but you and Lance aren't twins. You are close though, closer than most siblings. You said you felt the pull stronger when you started to miss Lance or you thought about him. Maybe that's how the Lion drew you out into the desert in the first place. Maybe it's amplifying your longing to try to find him." 

"I think you're right." Marisol said. "The day that we came here, I had a dream about Lance, about your last fight with him, but it was like I was watching it through his eyes."  
Pidge looked up intrigued, as if she had just proven her point. Marisol still had lots of questions, such as how it found her in the first place? Why Colleen hadn't felt some kind of pull too, since she had been grieving over a loss of family too? How would this find Lance? This wasn't the time for more questions that could be answered later.

"So what can I do?" Marisol asked instead, not sure where Pidge was going to go from here. The green paladin merely turned to Hunk and took out a white contraption that looked like it wrapped around Marisol's head.  
"This is a Mind Meld machine. We used this at the beginning of our Paladin training to help us bond and form Voltron better. It can recreate what you think and create a mental link to others. Hunk, Mom, and I made some modifications to it so that it can go further distances and hopefully reach out to Lance. We were hoping that you could do it?"  
"But what about you guys? Don't you have a link to him as well?" She asked quietly.

"We tried, all of us have." Allura spoke up, looking around to everyone forlornly. "But even though our connection with each other is strong, we can't reach out to him, like they know we'd try to reach him this way."  
"You're his sister. You have a different kind of bond than we do, probably much stronger than any of ours. If anyone can bridge the gap, it's you." Shiro told her encouragingly. "Maybe this is why the Blue Lion brought you here."  
She let out a small breath she didn't realize that she was holding.  
"Okay." Marisol had no qualms about this. If this is what it took to find her brother, she would do whatever it takes. "What do you need me to do?" 

Pidge grabbed onto her arm to help her sit in Lance's chair. Marisol noticed that there were pillows and blankets piled on the chair.  
"It might take a while, Keith had the longest turn, and it took almost three vargas." Allura explained as Hunk and Pidge placed the device over her head, adjusting it to fit properly and hooking up wires and chords to the headpiece. Marisol didn't know what a 'varga' was, but it sounded like a long stretch of time. 

Colleen sat on the floor next to her daughter, Pidge and Hunk over in the green paladin's chair to pull up a holographic screen. Even from the other side of the room, Marisol could tell it was a star map of some sort.  
"Once you establish a strong enough connection, we'll be able to find the coordinates of the ship without them realizing it." Hunk explained from where he stood. Keith continued to stare out into open space, almost as if ignoring the situation entirely, while Shiro sat on the platform next to Allura and Coran, looking at her intensely. It kind of made her squirm, feeling a bit uncomfortable with everybody staring at her so intently, as if she was their last hope.

"Just close your eyes. Think about Lance." Hunk said gently. Marisol nodded stiffly and closed her eyes. She jumped slightly when she felt a tickling feeling at the base of her skull, slowly creeping across her head to where the metal contraption dug into her scalp. It was like someone was poking around in her head, probably displaying whatever she thought to Pidge on her screen. 

At first she thought about trying to find Lance, looking for coordinates or a general pull to follow in the great big empty universe, but after a long stretch of time, she came up with nothing time and time again.

"Try not to think about finding him."  
Marisol opened her eyes to look incredulously at Hunk and Pidge, still crouched over the chair even after over an hour of her failing, Shiro and Matt were peaking over their shoulders for a better view.  
"Then what am I supposed to think about?" She tried to keep the bark out of her voice, knowing that they were just as frustrated as she was.  
Pidge wiped off her glasses, pursing her lips thinking. "Maybe you have to create the connection before we can track him down?" Pidge stated it more like a question, looking at Hunk and her mother for affirmation to try her theory. "Try to think about Lance in general, you know, like memories and stuff." 

Marisol rolled her shoulders and closed her eyes again, not so startled this time at the feeling inside of her head. She tried to think of memories of her and her brother that she could. She didn't know if it was the device or just her remembering, but memories started to trickle into her subconscious. Of course, she thought of the bad times, memories that she wished she could erase. They didn't fight often, but when they did, they played dirty, (Marisol even went as far as putting Nair in his shampoo bottle after he had told their parents about her secret boyfriend. Mama was furious and Lance was distraught about wearing a hat until his hair grew back. They haven't fought since). She thought about the times she would ignore his calls because she was busy with "better" things to do, promising to call back but never actually following through. Marisol tried to keep her breathing even as the night the horrible news played for her, feeling the despair that her and her family struggled with, dread from knowing his current fate, the hopelessness of if she would ever find him in this great, massive universe. Was he scared? Did he even know if anyone was coming for him? What if they didn't make it in time or if they hurt him beyond repair... 

The barest of touches brushed up against her arm, the feather-light feeling causing her eyes to snap open. Colleen was kneeling next to her, gently rubbing her arm now that she was looking.  
"Mari, you mentioned before that you used to go surfing. Where would you go?"  
"Colleen, I don't think that is really relevant-"  
"Indulge me." She interrupted, kind eyes almost pleading for her to play along.   
Sighing, she did.  
"I learned how to surf from my older cousins years back when we used to visit my grandparent's house in Varadero. That was when I fell in love with the ocean. I spent nearly every day of that summer out on the public beach, just trying to stand for longer than two seconds, I think the longest that summer was ten seconds." Marisol chuckled, a memory of her constantly falling into the water just trying to stand up on the board popping up on the screen.   
"I brought that love back to the States with me, my parent's splurging on a decent surfboard for my birthday. Once he was a bit older, Lance used to go out with me to try to catch the tide waves before church. It drove my Mama crazy, having to either hose us down before Sunday mass or taking her salty, fish-smelling kids to church every week, but she never forbade us from going out. She loved it when we got along."

"As we grew up, Lance and I found the perfect place to surf without there being a million tourists around. It wasn't even really a beach, mostly just crushed up pebbles, seaweed, and rocks, but it was our's, hardly anyone outside of our neighborhood would even go to the beach. We found little caves and nooks in the rocks that we would sit in, sometimes we would sneak out late at night and stargaze. He taught me the constellations and the stories behind them, I talked about boys, he talked about girls. Sometimes we wouldn't even say anything, just sit there and be."   
A small smile crept along her face. She could almost see his face as clear as day in her mind's eye, and for a split second, she swore she could almost smell the obnoxious-smelling cologne that he wore.

Then, like the final puzzle piece falling into place, she felt the pull once more. It came from her head again, so much stronger than before, dragging her into the depths of space with a sense of urgency. She felt the solid chair underneath her vanish and suddenly she was flying through the void of space, watching planets and suns and stars whizzed by in colorful blurs, feeling dizzy from how fast and far she was traveling. She let the pull take her wherever she needed to go. 

__

She slowed down, getting a brief glimpse of a giant purple and black ship before zooming inside, as if it were made of nothing. She passed purple creatures, the Galra she supposed, and grey robots patrolling the halls. She was led down a long corridor, it seemed to stretch on into forever before it ended at a door. She watched the door open, filling a dark room with light, spotlighting on something huddled against the wall, arms chained above their head. The figure looked up with a scowl, familiar cerulean eyes looking at her.  
_'Lance!'_

__

_She wanted to run to him, but instead she was jerked roughly and her perspective changed. Now she was seeing a several dark figures standing in the doorway, two masked creatures that put the fear of God in her like no other. A voice that wasn't her own shouted out curses in Spanish as the creatures entered without hesitation, realizing that the voice was Lance's. She was seeing things through his eyes again, feeling and hearing everything he did. He still struggled as they drug him unceremoniously out of the cell and down the halls, still shouting a string of curses that their Mama would have washed out his mouth with soap if she heard him._

_Tired of the ruckus that he was making, one of the masked figures held up a hand, a ball of black energy swirling in their hand. They extended their hand towards them. A scream and horrible pain filled her before everything went dark._

Gasping for breath, Marisol's eyes fluttered open as she returned to their reality. She had fallen to the floor in front of the chair, shaking with cold sweat, thankful that they had taken the precaution of laying down soft things for her. She felt almost the same as when she had woken up from the nightmare, but extremely glad when she didn't vomit everywhere. Colleen, Allura, and Shiro were kneeling above her, reaching out to help ground her back to reality. Marisol was struggling to catch her breath as Colleen helped her to sit up properly, her arms shaking with effort to support herself.  
"It's okay, you're alright. Just keep breathing." She grabbed a blanket that had gone askew during her fall and wrapping it around her tightly, rubbing her covered arms more securely. Marisol closed her eyes and gripped the photo inside of her pocket, trying to ground herself back to reality. 

"Did...did I do it?" Marisol gasped out once she had sort of regained her grip, feeling something drop down her face and off her chin. She looked at where it splashed on her hand, red droplets signaling that her nose was bleeding. Marisol wiped the blood away, trying not to smear it across her face.  
"Good news, it took a while, but you made the connection." Pidge said proudly from her chair. The tension in their shoulders had dropped significantly, relief filled the room for the first time in ages. She had done it.  
"Where is he?" Marisol asked, despite feeling ill, she was ready to throw the blanket off and go after her brother.  
"That's the bad news. I'm afraid we didn't get all of the information. You passed out around the time the connection was bridged. What we were able to collect was corrupted. It is enough to know that he is in fact with the main fleet, but not where the fleet is." Hunk told her solemnly. 

After all that, she still didn't find him, she felt shame and disappointment rise in her belly.  
"Let's do it again." Marisol forced herself to sit up in the chair, nearly sliding back to the floor as her head spun from the sudden motion, Colleen and Allura reaching for her before she fell back down.  
"I wouldn't advise that. You were in there for a long time, twice as long as any of us were. You had a nose bleed, and that was just the making the connection. It might cause permanent damage to your brain if we aren't careful." Pidge warned. Parts of Marisol wanted to argue, to push herself and make them take her back into her headspace place, but _'permanent damage'_ sounded very serious. She couldn't help them if she was dead or hurt beyond repair. She nodded slowly in defeat, allowing them to take the Mind Meld off. She still felt the pull in the back of her mind, like an itch she couldn't scratch. 

"We'll try again once you've had time to recover." Hunk reassured her as he helped her to stand, the blanket still around her. "Do you need help back to your room?"  
"Nah, I'm alright." Marisol said, but the moment he let his grip go slack and she tried to walk, she nearly toppled over, stopped only by Shiro and Allura grasping her shoulders.  
"Okay, a little help would be good." She admitted. 

Hunk nodded, wrapping a sturdy arm around her shoulders, Shiro and Allura backing off to let Hunk take her. She couldn't help but lean into him, almost complete dead weight against him. She grimaced at feeling so helpless, but he merely chuckled as they walked out of the room. 

"It happens to the best of us, I puked everywhere when I tried. You're doing better than Keith, he couldn't even stand up for an hour after. Pidge also had a bad nose bleed and Shiro nearly had a panic attack. Plus there's nothing to be ashamed of, you did it. We're one step closer to finding Lance."  
She nodded, allowing him to talk as she felt her mind drift off, as if trying to reach to Lance once more, his screams still echoing in her ears.


	11. Chapter 11

***

_Marisol tried to keep her breathing steady and for the contents of her stomach to stay put, looking down at the carnage beneath her. Someone was sprawled out beneath her, trembling at the sight of her. There wasn't an inch of skin on their bluish skin that wasn't bruised or cut, golden blood dripping out of their wounds onto the fine sand below her feet. They held their hands out in surrender, trembling in absolute fear of her._

_"Please! Please spare me! I cede the match, please, don't do it!" They begged, some sadistic part of her wanted to laugh at how pathetic it was, watching them beg for their life, knowing fully well that it would do nothing to change her ming. There was a dull roar in the background, it sounded like one massive voice, all chanting the same thing._  
**'FINISH IT!'**

_Raising a hand, a thin looking staff that looked vaguely familiar in her grasp, she swung down, becoming drenched in a golden spray as the blade pierced an artery. She wanted to be horrified at the mess she had made, at the gurgling sounds growing softer beneath her until it stopped altogether, but the dull roaring had turned up the volume, nearly becoming unbearable as they chanted a name, but it wasn't her name._

"-isol? Marisol!"

Her eyes fluttered open, just in time to see her falling face first into the white flooring of the training room. She barely caught herself on her hands and knees, gasping for breath, still smelling the stench of death around her. She retched repeatedly, but nothing came out, dry heaving pathetically as a warm hand rubbed between her shoulder blades. She hunched in on herself, trying to calm down.  
"Marisol, are you alright?"  
She groaned, and not just because she felt like her entire world had just flipped it axis.  
_'Way to make a fool of yourself in front of your crush...'_ She forced herself to look up into Matt's eyes, hating how concerned he looked.  
"Fine. I'm fine. Just...practicing."  
"Practicing what? Vomiting on the training room floor? Sorry to say, but Hunk has you beat by a long shot." Matt offered his hand to her, pulling her to her feet, ready to steady her if she stumbled. By some grace, she didn't. Marisol crossed her arms in front of her, partially embarrassed, but mostly still trying to shake off the feeling inside of her head, the small voice pleading her not to kill them, the sadistic feeling she felt as the blade sunk home, the smell of the blood as it drained from their body...

"Hey, you should sit down. You're looking a bit green." Matt gently grasped her arm and led her over to the wall, guiding her to sit down. She took comfort against the cool wall as Matt rushed away for a moment, returning with a water pouch for her.  
Marisol shook her head. "I will definitely vomit if I drink that. I just need a moment."  
"You sure?"  
She nodded, closing her eyes as she tried to ground herself back to reality. Wherever the Mind Meld had taken her was not real, or at least it wasn't here. She hadn't killed anyone, she was still safe and sound.

After a little bit, she opened her eyes, finding that Matt was sitting besides her, looking her over curiously.  
"Sorry 'bout that. Guess I got caught up in the Meld."  
"No need to apologize, I've seen what it does to people. But you looked like you were in pain."  
"I wasn't in pain, per say." She said. He raised an eyebrow at her.  
Sighing, she explained to the best of her ability about what she saw, what had happened. 

"I hate to say it, but it sounds like you were in an arena, one that the Galra put up."  
"Do you think they sent Lance there?" Her stomach dropped thinking about her baby brother, being forced to take that innocent being's life, fighting for his own life.  
"He's a Paladin of Voltron. He's too important to send into a death match. Besides, these can't reach as far as the one Pidge designed, so you weren't seeing what he was. I wouldn't worry about it too much, it's probably just stress causing you to imagine." He rubbed her shoulder gently. That put her at ease a bit, but she still worried her lip. She had never been there before, usually the Mind Meld took her into herself, seeing what she had experienced. She had never had to do anything close to killing before, so why show that? She would need to ask Coran about the true functions of the machine.  


"Yeah. I guess you're right." She shook her head, trying to act nonchalant about it as he helped her to her feet.  
"Speaking of brain melting activities, it's time to look for your bro."  
"It could melt my brain?" She asked suddenly.  
"No! No, I-I was just joking. I promise it won't hurt you." He waved both of his hands in assurance. "Pidge and Hunk made it as safe as they possibly could. It's probably baby-safe."  
She grimaced, still a little bit uneasy about his comments.  
He walked her all the way to the bridge, keeping a comfortable distance from her. She used the silence to compose herself, not wanting anyone to know what had just happened.

Not everybody was there, just Pidge, Shiro, Colleen, and Allura. Allura and Shiro, quickly joined by Matt, were looking at the giant star map, ready to track coordinates when and if Marisol found them. Pidge and Colleen crowded around the Green Paladin's chair, looking at a laptop screen. Marisol settled back in Lance's chair, wrapping a blanket around her and laying the pillows on the ground just in case.

"Ready whenever you are." Pidge called over. Marisol nodded and closed her eyes. The probing feeling didn't surprise her anymore, it actually felt a bit ticklish where it spread across her brain. 

Marisol thought of Lance again, luckily good memories surfacing due to all of the practice she had been doing. All of their talks on the beach, driving him and his middle school friends around when she got her license, watching as their mama taught Lance how to tie a tie for his first formal dance, seeing him in his Garrison uniform the first time and the pride she felt at how far he had come. She thought of all the times he had been there for her, her heart swelling as the tingling took over and she drifted off. 

_The pull was more gentle this time, taking her where she needed to go. She saw the giant ship once more, looking around for stars and planets that she could help them recognize where they were located but there was just billions of stars she didn't know. The pull took her into the ship once more. This time instead of flying through the hallways, it was as if she was there, walking along with the robots and aliens. Instead of the dank hallway that led to the prison cell he was in last time, it led her down another hall lit by ominous purple lights. Marisol felt her stomach seize slightly, having a bad feeling about what was waiting for her. The door at the end of the hall was shut, but she was able to glide through as if it were made of nothing._

_The sight on the other side made her want to scream or vomit. Maybe both._

_Lance was fastened to a large metal frame by heavy metal cuffs. Most of his armor had been stripped, leaving him in the black flight suit. There were some small cuts that were visible through tears in the fabric and bruises that covered most of his face, but by the look in his eye, he was nowhere near giving up. A black metal contraption wrapped around his head, underneath his jaw so he couldn't speak, and held it in place. It almost reminded her of the Mind Meld that she had on. He stared through her at the door with a glare, disheartening the hope that maybe because of the mental link he could see her._

_The door behind her opened with a metal clang, Marisol spun around to see his captor for the first time._ _He looked nothing like the creatures that she had seen on the ship before or how the other Paladins had described the Galra. He almost looked like Allura and Coran, but with purple skin and yellow eyes that seemed to stare right through her. A sinister smile crept up his face as he approached Lance, walking right through Marisol. She turned around, watching him dismiss the guard currently in place, leaving the two of them, (plus a ghost Marisol), alone._

_Once the guard left, he spoke for the first time.  
"Well now, if it isn't the Blue Paladin that the Druids have been urging me to visit. I must admit I thought you'd be a little bigger." Lotor walked up and unclasped part of the metal, allowing Lance to talk. "And I thought you'd be better looking, but I guess we're both disappointed." Lance shrugged despite the restraints. Captivity had not taken away any of his spirit, Marisol thanked God above._

_Lotor quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing in response, walking towards a control panel that the guard was stationed at before._   
_"Seems they were right, you are the witty one. Always quick to a snarky comment, but I feel as if there is more underneath than what you are showing. They already tried to physically torture information about Voltron out of you, but that hasn't worked." Marisol bristled at the word torture. She wanted to kick this guy's nuts, (and whoever these Druids were), so far up their throats that they would choke to death for even thinking about hurting her little brother.  
"So today we're going to do things my way." A malicious grin spread across his face, showing rows of pointed teeth. _

_He pressed a button on the control panel, Lance's head snapped back against the wall, his jaw strap locking up again. If he could speak, he would probably say he wasn't into BDSM, or at least to buy him a drink first, but he stared Lotor down, not afraid of him in the slightest (completely opposite of what Marisol was feeling, precariously balancing between burning hatred and absolute fear that kept her frozen where she stood)._

_"I'm sure you're familiar with the mind melding technology the Alteans have," Marisol subconsciously rubbed the place where the mind meld sat on the crown of her head. "However, they are quite outdated. We have advanced these devices over the last 10,000 years, would you like to see how?" Without waiting for permission, he pressed another button. A dark blue light emitted from the metal contraption on his head, Lance shut his eyes, grunting painfully as the device turned on and started to scan his brain, wiggling against the restraints to turn away._

_"My my, what an interesting amount of information you have. Most of it is useless to me, but let's dig a little bit, see if I can find something useful." He turned the switch up slightly. Lance groaned loudly against the restraint, almost painfully. Marisol wanted nothing more than to push this psychopath out of the way and stop whatever he was doing to him, but she was frozen in place._

_"You've got a big family, youngest of them all. Always bested by your older sibling's accomplishments." Suddenly a picture of them projected out of nowhere, showing the siblings together, sans Lance. They were all standing together laughing, not even noticing. That's when Marisol realized that it was out of Lance's point of view. Memories of excluding Lance came back to her, while not all of it was intentional, it still would have affected Lance in some way. The blue image of her was the clearest, turning up her nose at Lance. "Even the youngest sister was better than you, despite what she claimed, it was common knowledge that you would never be as good as her." The urge to kick this bastard's ass was even stronger now, surpassing all other priorities besides rescuing Lance._

_"That's why you joined the Galaxy Garrison," Lotor struggled around the English words, but none the less continued. "But even there you were still outshone by your classmates, just a simple cargo pilot." The siblings were replaced by three familiar faces- Keith, Pidge, and Hunk- all of whom were star students and excelled in their fields. Lance whined, trying to turn his head away._  
_"Even now, as a Paladin of Voltron, the Universe's only hope, and you're still not the best. You'll never be anything compared to them." The members on the ship appeared, seemingly happy with each other's presence, but Lance was nowhere to be found. Marisol felt pressure build in the corner of her eyes when she saw Lance was staring in utter disbelief before finding a spot on the floor to stare at._  
_"With you gone, there is no seventh wheel." Lotor snarled, emphasizing as if using a direct quote from Lance to prove his point._

_'No! Lance, you're not a seventh wheel. Everyone is in shambles with you gone. Don't believe a word he says!' She found the voice to speak, even if it barely was above a whisper. 'We're on our way. I'm coming for you.' But it must have fallen on deaf ears, seeing how he didn't even look away from his spot on the floor. If he couldn't see her, he wouldn't be able to hear her._  
_"Now, we can continue to look through your memories, dig up every bad thing that you believe about yourself, but I feel that would be draining for the both of us. I don't want to break you, I want to build you up. I can appreciate you in ways that those humans can't." Lotor strode back over to Lance, gently prying the strap off of his face. "Tell me what I need to know, and you can have all of the attention, all of the glory, that you deserve."_

_Lance looked up, impossible to tell what he was thinking, his eyes stormy like the sea. Marisol could feel the pull start to fray like a rope holding onto it's last few strands. Her time was up, but she fought against it, needing to hear Lance's response._

_"Okay."_ _Marisol nearly broke down then and there, a throbbing starting to build in the front of her head. "What is Voltron's greatest weakness?" Lotor asked, seemingly thrilled that Lance was finally participating. "Nonya." Lance muttered under his breath, just barely heard over the ringing in Marisol's ears. "What was that?" Lotor asked, leaning in just a hair closer, trying not to look too smug._

__

_"None of you're damn business Prince Loser!" Lance shouted, spitting in his captor's face. As childish as the insult was, Marisol wanted to cry with joy._

_Lotor narrowed his eyes as he wiped off the moisture, not expecting that turn of events. "Fine. I've given you the chance to speak freely, now we'll do things the hard way." Lotor slammed his hand down on the controls. The blue light appeared again, but this time Lance shrieked in pain, convulsing against the wall.  
**'No!'** Marisol shouted and lunged for her brother, but just as she was about to reach Lance, she felt a head splitting pain so intense that it brought her to her knees. She grasped her head between her hands, feeling herself fall down, down, down..._

***

Marisol sat up almost immediately, a scream chasing its way out of her throat. This was even worse than before, the throbbing inside her head nearly causing her to black out on the spot. She struggled to catch her breath, tears streaming down her face. Feeling hands from unseen faces grab her to help her calm down. Someone was waving a device in her face, Marisol weakly tried to push it away, taking massive, heaving breaths. 

Colleen was right besides her, rubbing her back soothingly, Matt was on the other side. Together they held her up, helping her back into the chair that she had slid out of yet again, fortunately she had taken the precaution of laying down pillows. It took Marisol a while to calm down, unconsciously switching back and forth between Spanish and English.  
" _Coño_ , that motherfucker. _Mi pobre hermano_.... He is being tortured. He's hurting him." 

"We know, we saw." Shiro said bitterly, casting a glance at Pidge, who was scrubbing her face with her sleeve. How much had they seen?  
"Did you find anything?" Marisol took a rag from Matt, wiping her face off, both tears and blood staining the fabric. Had she had a seizure or something?  
"Yes." Pidge looked over her glasses, looking more determined than before. "We've found Lance." 

***

It took a matter of minutes to summon everybody into the sitting area. It only took the words 'Found' and 'Lance' over the intercom and everybody was rushing to hear the news. Keith was drenched in sweat from training, Hunk covered in what looked like flour. Allura and Shiro stood in the center of the circle, everybody else sitting around on the couches, listening intensively. 

"Thanks to Colleen, Hunk, Pidge, and Marisol, we were finally able to track the location of the ship where Lance is being held." Shiro said. "He is being tortured for information about Voltron, we are not sure if he is being experimented on, but I wouldn't count it out. We are putting in measures to rescue him."  
"How soon?" Keith asked.  
"Immediately." Shiro nodded grimly. 

"Pidge, what are the coordinates?"  
Pidge was typing away on a tablet, throwing the image up so everybody could see.  
"He's located in the middle of the Trifalger System, heavily guarded by at least a hundred fleets. He doesn't appear to be in a hurry to move, given that we have no idea where he is, so we have a bit of time on our side."  
"We'll have to move as quick as possible. It may be possible that as soon as they see us, they'll move." Shiro commanded, placing his arms behind his back. "Tomorrow, we are going to sneak onto his ship, take Lance, and be gone before they know what hit them. This is not about attacking him, it's about stealth tactics. We can use the cloaking device on the Green Lion to board his ship without his knowledge. Matt, Pidge, and myself will board the command center and locate Lance."

"Wait, what about us?" Hunk asked, gesturing to Keith and himself.  
"We don't want to bring in anymore Lions than we have to, that's what cost us last time."  
Keith opened his mouth to protest, visibly angry at being left behind.  
"I know it's not what you want, but the Green Lion is the only one with cloaking technology, and can only fit a number of people. Pidge is the pilot and Matt and myself are the only ones who have knowledge of the prison cells on the ship. We aren't looking to fight Lotor, we'll wait until we're back together and stronger before we take him on." He sent a pointed glance at Keith, who snapped his mouth shut so hard his teeth clashed audibly. 

"I can create a wormhole for you to travel through, the Castle will stay on the other side for you to wormhole back safely." Allura said thoughtfully. "We can send out our drones to keep watch, and if need be, counterattack if you are found out."  
"The rest of you will stay back, ready to go in case we are found or an attack is the only option." Shiro said grudgingly. Even though they wanted this to go as quietly as possible, their plans usually did not go the way they intended, so they had to be ready.

"What about me?" Marisol spoke up. She had been quiet for the entirety of the meeting, still reeling from the things that she had seen.  
"Colleen told me you have medical training, we'll need you for injuries and to help Lance back to health." Maybe it was the way Shiro said it, or maybe it was the fact that he wasn't looking her in the eyes as he addressed her, but it sounded wooden to Marisol.  
"Don't you have those healing pod things for that?" She questioned.  
"Yes, but, we, um..." Shiro looked to Allura, as if asking her to help him.  


"What Shiro is trying to say is that it would be best if you remained here, in the castle." Allura tried to let the news down as gently as she could.  
"But Lance is my brother, and I'm the one who was able to locate him. I should help you find him." Marisol argued, mouth open in shock. Why hadn't they told her this part? Especially with her being his sister and her only goal was to help save him. 

"Marisol, you have no experience fighting the Galra, they'll tear you apart!" Allura explained. "We just want to keep you out of harm's way."  
She had good intentions, and what she was saying made sense logically, but Marisol was not quite in a sane state of mind as a bubble of anger rose in her chest, bringing heat to her face in rage.  
"He is my family!" She stood up.  
"Marisol..." Colleen started to speak, but she cut her friend off with a glare. Of all of the people in the room that she had expected to be on her side was Colleen, but now she was trying to keep her away too.

"This is not fair! I highly doubt they stopped Pidge from rescuing her brother, so why am I being benched trying to find mine?"  
"Marisol, that is enough!" Surprisingly, it was Colleen that barked at her, stunning her into silence at her sudden outburst, joining Marisol on her feet, slightly in front of her family as if to become a barrier that Marisol could not pass. "Katie has experience that you do not, and it would jeopardize the mission to put you out there. You don't know how to fight and you just had a a seizure trying to find him, who knows what could happen if it turns into a fight." She motioned angrily to Marisol's head, shaking with the effort to keep it under control. "Respect their wishes and let it go."

Perhaps it was the fact that Colleen had just yelled at her, angry that Marisol had to bring Katie and Matt into her fight, or maybe it was her common sense finally kicking in, but either way Marisol backed off, folding like a broken lawn chair. She hugged her knees to her chest, letting Shiro continue on after a brief stutter (maybe he was shocked that Colleen was so angry too).The seizure was new information to her, but it explained why everyone had been so freaked out when she woke up. She had no idea exactly what she had put on the line to find her family. Part of Marisol wanted to get angry, storm out of the room like she had the first time, but this was different, last time Colleen was on her side, now the woman was sitting with her children, taking steady breaths to calm herself down. Marisol looked away when she moved to pay attention to the plan. She allowed them to make plans about his rescue, leaving her completely out of the equation.

Marisol couldn't help but wonder if this is what Lance meant by the seventh wheel comment.


	12. Chapter 12

***

The plan was made. All things were in order. Everything had to be done exactly or they would have risk a fight, but they were confident in their abilities. They would save their teammate and bring him home.  
Most of the team gathered in the Green Lion's hangar to see the three members off early the next morning, Keith nowhere in sight, but Hunk mentioned something about hearing him in the training room, probably working off the anger from not fighting today. The air was tense as they bid farewell, the unknown hanging in the air like a lightning storm, the encouraging words from Allura and Coran seemed to fall flat, even Matt was unusually quiet. Colleen hugged her children tightly as worry fluttered in her chest, she didn't want to send them off into battle, but deep down she knew that this was their job and that they could handle whatever the universe threw at them. She knew that her kids would succeed, wishing them the best. Matt already had his hood up and mask on, probably to hide the pre-mission worry from his mother, the rest of the team following suit. 

"No Marisol?" Shiro asked, looking around for her familiar brown hair. He had hoped to talk to her before they left, clear the air maybe about her outburst yesterday.  
"She's locked herself in her room, refusing to open the door for anyone or anything. No one has seen her since last night." Colleen stated sadly, her face pinched. Maybe she regretted yelling at her friend, since Marisol had become like family to her, but if that is what it took to keep her from such a dangerous mission, she would have done it again.  
"It'll pass. She can't stay in her room forever." He patted her shoulder gently. "She'll come around, especially once Lance comes back."

With that, the castle residents waved the trio off, the Green Lion launching into space. Allura hurried back up to the Bridge so she could open a wormhole to Pidge's coordinates that she had entered in so they could fly in undetected.

The rest of the followed her back to the bridge, tensely looking at the screen. The soft blue light erupted around Allura, allowing her to open the portal. The Green Lion shimmered on the screen before it disappeared, the red dot on the screen the only indication that it existed. The worm hole closed behind them, leaving the command room in utter silence. 

Behind them, the door opened. Colleen turned around.  
"Marisol, nice of you to-" She stopped short, eyes practically bugging out of her head at the sight. 

Matt yawned, bedhead and wearing Marisol's sleeping clothes, quirking an eyebrow at the gaping faces.  
"What? Is there something on my face?"

***

The cockpit of the Green Lion was very tense, Pidge concentrating on flying and keeping the cloaking device on, the others watching her silently work. The one snag in their plan was that they couldn't teleport them right to the Command Ship, having it be encompassed in a asteroid debris field. They would have to fly in under the cover of debris, cloaking once more when they were close enough to the ship to board without the Galra being alerted. 

"You know, you don't have to keep your hood up the entire time." Pidge spoke up, glancing at the hooded figure besides her. "I already know and I bet it won't take long for the Castle to find out either."  
The figure sighed, pulling down the hood and face mask to reveal long, dark hair and dark skin that did not resemble Matt in any way. Shiro blanched, jaw falling open.  
"How did you know?" Marisol asked, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. She was disguised perfectly, wearing the same outfit that Matt wore on missions, hood and all. She even was wearing leg wraps (though the left knee was more bandaged than usual) and communication ear piece.

"Matt doesn't smell like mineral water and I saw him sneaking into your room this morning." Pidge shrugged, clearly not bothered by the reveal. "Figured it was either you trying to sneak into the Lion or you two are sleeping together, which isn't completely out of the picture yet." She sent a sly smile her way, the tips of Marisol's ears turning bright red.

"Marisol, what are you thinking?" Shiro demanded.  
She turned to him. She still had some of the fire in her eyes from the previous night, but it was more determined. She knew exactly what she was doing, even if what she was doing was completely irrational.  
"My brother is on that ship, I swore that I wouldn't let anything stop me from finding him."  
"You don't know-"  
"I've been training!" Marisol pulled out Matt's staff, whipping it to full length. Shad never interrupted Shiro before, leaving him slightly flabbergasted, so she continued. "Those days when you were looking for a way to find Lance, Matt taught me how to fight with a staff. I'm at the same level that Hunk and Pidge are on in the training simulations. I don't have real experience, but I'm not completely helpless." 

"We're too far to go back. We've only got one chance to do this." Pidge pointed out, Shiro suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at his younger teammate.  
"Fine." Shiro gave in, sighing heavily. "Is there anything else I should know before we land?"  
"Actually yes," Marisol said, tapping the floor with the staff. "Keith, you can come out now, we've been discovered."  
Keith popped up from the floor, Pidge screeched and lost control for the briefest moment, ducking behind an asteroid to cover them again.  
"Wait, this isn't my Lion?" Keith had an innocent look on his face, trying not to look like a stowaway. 

Marisol tried to hid a grin again as Shiro looked so close to blowing his top, his face almost as red as his scar.  
"Both of you? W-When did this happen?"  
"Well..." Marisol drew out, thinking back on last night.

~~~

_Marisol had waited until everyone had gone to bed, the hallways dark and quiet, before leaving her room, looking down both ends of the hallway before stepping out. She had workout clothes on, a training staff from the simulation room, intent on finding some kind of suit to protect her like the Paladins had. Even though it wasn't smart, she needed to do this. She needed to save her brother, nothing was going to stop her. She tiptoed past the guest rooms until she was in the hangars. She stopped when she heard voices, muttering low enough that she couldn't hear what they were saying. She backed against the wall, waiting for them to stop and leave so she could sneak onto the Lion without being noticed._ _"I know you're listening, Marisol." A familiar voice called out to her, causing her to jump from her hiding spot. She rounded the corner with a guilty expression, seeing Keith and Matt standing there. Keith looked less than pleased and Matt was tired._  
"I'm getting on that ship," She stated, ready for an argument. "Neither one of you are stopping me."  
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." Matt said. "I know what it's like to need to do something even when everyone says no." He explained to her confused face.  
_"Then why didn't you stand up for me earlier?"  
"And face the wrath of my mother? She is small, but mighty." _

__

__

_"What about you? Are you going to tell?" She asked Keith hesitantly. He didn't seem like the kind of person to rat her out, but he and Shiro were close, he might not be able to help it.  
"No, I was trying to find a way on myself." He wasn't being short or grumpy with her, which threw her through a loop._

_"Look, I'm sorry. I should have apologized way earlier for what I said, but I was angry." <_  
"At me?" She asked, wondering where this Keith had come from.  
"No, at myself." He sighed, looking her in the eye for the first time since he had snapped at her. Regretfully, he started talking.  
"I was leading the mission that Lance was captured on. It was my call to retreat, not Shiro or Allura, I'm the one that pulled out. I didn't realize until the wormhole was closing that he wasn't in his Lion. By the time I came back, they were gone. I spent days scanning, but there was nothing."

_"Then you showed up, one of the first things you asked was about Lance. I was reminded again that it was my fault. Its no excuse though, I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you."_  
"I forgive you." Marisol said almost as soon as he was done speaking. In all honesty, she had forgiven him a long time ago, but was too prideful to approach him. He looked shocked at her immediate forgiveness.  
"No need to hold grudges now, what matters now is working together to get on that ship without them knowing."

_"I've got a plan." Matt spoke up, rubbing his hands together. "And luckily we're about the same size."  
Marisol couldn't help but stare in curiosity, wondering what exactly he had planned..._

~~~

Almost immediately after Marisol and Keith explained themselves, the monitor in front of Pidge lit up with a small alarm, flashing like a notification on a cell phone.  
"It's the Castle." Pidge said.  
She looked up, as if asking if she should answer it. Marisol reached over Pidge, swiping up to expand the image across the dashboard, ready to face her pissed off friend. 

To say Colleen looked pissed was an understatement, causing Marisol to take half a step back. She scarily resembled Marisol's mama after she had been caught out past curfew. She was standing front and center of the screen, Matt off to the side with a shit-eating grin on his face when he knew his mother could not see. 

"Marisol Isobelle McClain, what do you think you are doing?" She demanded. Marisol flinched at the full name usage, now sounding exactly like her mother.  
"I'm sorry Colleen, I need to do this." Marisol sounded as genuine as possible. She really didn't want to upset her or anyone, but this had to be done.  
"You must return to the castle immediately." Allura said from off screen. "The mission could be jeopardized."  
"It's too late for that, we're approaching." Pidge said, nodding to the looming ship out in the space in front of them hidden among the debris.

"You are risking your life!" Colleen said heatedly.  
"You would do the same thing if you had to!" She argued back.  
"Mom, wait please?" Matt said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't chew her out yet. It's my doing too. We've been training for the past few weeks." Colleen and Allura looked between them for confirmation.  
"She's good. Hell, she's almost better than me, she's pinned me down more than I care to admit. She knows what she's doing, you couldn't have stopped her if you wanted to." He nodded at her through the screen. Marisol felt her heart swell, a small smile growing. At least he was on her side. 

Colleen lost some of the rage in her eyes, adopting a signature parental _'I'm-not-mad-just-disappointed'_ look instead.  
"You still shouldn't have left, at least not without telling anyone. But you are an adult, and more than perfectly able to make your own choices."  
"I'm sorry I lied." Marisol apologized.  
She looked at the group, making sure to make eye contact with everyone in their mission party. "Do whatever you need to do, just make sure you all make it home."  
"I will." Shiro said grimly. 

The monitor flashed off, allowing them to see how close they were to the ship. It reminded Marisol of the times where she used the Mind Meld, but this time it was frighteningly close, Marisol almost regretted her choice. The one thing that kept her from abandoning ship was the fact the Lance was behind those cold, dark walls. 

The Lion stopped on the underbelly of the ship, digging its claws in to keep it sturdy. The Paladins pressed a button on the side of their helmets to activate the face shield, Marisol put the face mask and hood on again. Despite the flimsy-looking mask, Matt had promised that it would protect her from dying the moment she stepped out of the Lion.  
"We won't be able to communicate with each other through the coms, otherwise they'll pick up the signal. So stay close and stay quiet." Pidge instructed. They nodded tensely before Pidge opened the hatch underneath their feet, floating down to the surface of the ship. Pidge used her bayard to slice a hole big enough to fit a Shiro-sized person in, quietly crawling through. 

The gravity switched back on the moment they entered the ship, standing up in a long, dark hallway lit by dim purple lights. Shiro immediately led them forward, no time to waste. It was an odd game of _'Follow the Leader'_ , ducking behind walls to stay out of sight.  
Once they had reached a secluded section of the ship, Pidge hacked into the mainframe with the gauntlet on her arm. She and Marisol scanned the ship for non-Galra life forms on board the ship while Shiro and Keith kept watch for sentries. 

The scan completed with a small ping. Pidge hissed for them to come closer, crouching over her shoulders to see a crude diagram of the ship. The ship displayed four dots clustered together, which must have been them.

"It looks like there are two others on this ship." Pidge said concernedly. They hadn't thought anyone else was here, who could it have been?  
"Can you tell which one is Lance?" Keith asked.  
"No, and of course they're on opposite sides of the ship." She pointed at the blue dots on the holographic screen, a small cluster representing them and two blue specks on the furthest points of the ship possible.  
"So we work around it." Shiro muttered, eyes darting across the screen for a moment before speaking again. "Keith, you and Pidge go towards the bottom of the ship while Marisol and I go up. We'll meet back up here before we head back to the Lion." He pointed to the middle section where they had landed. "Don't get separated and don't alert the guards. The last thing we need is Lotor knowing we're here." 

Keith, Marisol, and Pidge nodded tensely. Pidge closed the screen and led her partner down one way as Shiro and Marisol took off in the opposite direction. Marisol looked over her partner, only just realizing that Shiro was not armed. He didn't have bayard like Pidge or Keith and did not have any apparent weapons on him. Marisol at least had a staff, even if she was inexperienced, how was he going to defend himself if they were found out? Knowing about him from his teammates, he was skilled enough to fight, he probably had a trick up his sleeve or something she didn't know about.  
He glanced over as if he could tell she was thinking about him, but she looked away quickly.  
Right. No need to get distracted, they had a mission to complete. 

They walked in silence, scanning the halls for any signs of life. Pidge had sent them a copy of the map she had downloaded, so they could track themselves and the blue dot. It wasn't moving away from them, so she figured that they were keeping him in some form of a cell like she had seen before. She stopped her train of thought before she started to think about what they had done to them, of what sort of state they would find her baby brother in. That was a bridge they would eventually cross.  
Just as they were passing a fork in the hallway, Shiro trying to figure out which way to go on his map, Marisol felt a tug against the back of her head, so sharp and sudden that she gasped softly. It stopped her in her tracks, pulling like a little kid in a toy store, just begging her to follow the feeling. It was just like when she found the cave or when she had on the Mind Meld, insistent and desperate.  
She hissed at Shiro to get his attention, pointing at her head and down a hall. He cocked his head. She started walking down the hall, memories of these halls filling her with a sense of where to go, Shiro begrudgingly following after as she took point. 

Their footsteps echoed off of the metal floor, despite they're attempts to stay stealthy. It was almost too quiet for Marisol to feel comfortable. When she was in the Mind Meld space, the ship was crawling with soldiers and robots, but they had yet to see any since they split up. As cliché as it sounded, she had a bad feeling about this. She came up to another junction in the hall, stopping to turn to Shiro to point him in the right direction.  
That's when a metal door shut between the two of them. 

"Shit!" She whispered, running back to the door. "Shiro?" She pounded on the door, unable to hear anything on the other side. "Shiro, can you hear me?" She pressed the button on her com, not really caring about the instructions anymore, they had already broken rule one.  
_"Are you alright?"_ His voice was distorted, even though they were only feet apart.  
"Yes. The door shut, but I don't know why." Marisol felt around the edges to feel some kind of crack to pry it open, but the whole door was smooth and did not give any signs of how to open it. 

_"Are you guys okay?"_ A new voice came over the coms, Pidge sounded out of breath.  
_"We got split up. Can you find an alternative route to meet up again?"_ Shiro said, grunting from his efforts to open the door.  
_"Same here, Keith is on the other side, but I can't get through to him. I'm trying to hack the door, but it's taking longer than usual."_  
_"I have a feeling that this isn't an accident."_ Keith said gruffly, sounding like he was trying to break the door down too with his weapon. _"I think they know we're here."_

Suddenly Pidge yelped in the com, then it was silent on her end.  
"Pidge!" The three of them shouted at the same time, but there was no response.  
_"Shit!"_ Keith yelled angrily. _"They set us up!"_  
Then his line went dead.  
"Shiro, what do we do?" Marisol asked, but he didn't respond.  
"Shiro!" She was met with static.

She smacked her hand on the door and swore, but it remained unyielding. Her heart jumped in her chest as she fought to stay calm. She could have handled fighting off the Galra with Shiro helping, but now she didn't have that luxury. Lotor was splitting them up and taking them down one by one.  
Before she could think of a plan or anything that wasn't just standing dumbly at a door, Marisol felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Hardly thinking, she ducked, just in time to miss a blade swipe where her neck had been just moments before.  
She rolled out of the way, immediately taking a fighting stance when she stood to face her opponent. In front of her, holding a sword out was the bastard prince himself. 

Lotor chuckled softly looking her up and down to gauge his opponent.  
"Well now. One little rebel fighter, all on his own." He crooned, swinging his massive blade with tremendous ease. At first she was confused at the male pronouns, but then she realized that her hood was still up as well as her mask, disguising her identity to him. He must have thought that she was Matt. It wasn't that hard to believe, only a couple inches shorter than him and they had similar body builds. With the hood and face mask up, it was difficult to tell whether she was a boy or girl, white or brown. (It's why they traded clothes in the first place), now she just had to keep up the facade until she could get away or someone else came to help.  
Marisol shook her head and kept her stance, trying not letting his words get to her. Keith had warned her earlier about Lotor's tactics, how he taunted his opponents into making rash decisions or making the first move. He observed their fighting style and figured out exactly how to take them down. He was a skilled swordsman and fighter, in a completely different league that her. She wouldn't stand a chance.

"Not in a chatting mood? We've got all the time, Axca, Ezor, and Zethrid should keep them busy for the time being." Her hands tightened around the staff, but kept her feet planted, acting unbothered while she frantically thought of every way out.  
The door behind him was still unyielding, an obvious dead end. She could run down the hall, but she had no idea where she was going, especially if this was his domain. He could have an entire army just around the corner just waiting for her. She had very few options; run or battle, fight or flight.

"It's rather rude to not answer when you are addressed. Especially by a prince." She almost forgot that he was still talking to her.  
"You're not my prince." She muttered under her breath, trying to keep her voice low. If she could just goad him into talking more or distract him until someone else could come help...

He moved so quick, it didn't register to her until he was almost right on top of her. She spun the staff, barely blocking his attacks. The force of his attacks sent shockwaves of pain up her arms, but she kept on. She kicked out her leg when she saw an opening, throwing him off balance for a moment, using the staff to whack him in the head as hard as she could. He stumbled back as she took another defensive position across the room, closer to the open passageway that was looking more and more like her only option of staying alive. 

"You don't fight like a rebel fighter." He smiled as he wiped some condensation off of his lower lip, seeming to enjoy himself. "I like that. But we could spend hours on this little dance of ours. Why not just end it now, get back to your friends? Unless you think they are coming to save you?" Marisol narrowed her eyes, she could handle herself.  
He sprung again. She couldn't dodge his attack, holding off his downward swing with the staff. She grunted with the effort it was taking for the blade not to slice her in two, feet sliding slightly on the smooth floor, but she held her ground, even able to push him back in the slightest after a moment of struggling. She just needed an opening, just the briefest hesitation to shake him off and run. 

Suddenly there was a flash of light, an intense pain flaring up the length of her already injured leg. It felt as if she had been burned and shot at the same time, collapsing slightly with a shout in pain. Lotor saw his moment to kick her back. She slid down the far wall with a small cry in pain as her staff rolled away.  
Tears sprung to her eyes as she looked down at her leg to assess the damage. She had been shot. The bandage she had so carefully wrapped over her knee were completely incinerated, the pant leg smoldering around the blast. Her leg was an angry red and bleeding. Whatever progress she had made with recovery on the Castle was completely ruined. Whoever took the shot must have known her knee was still injured, having to aim very carefully to hit the target.

She bit down on her lip, trying to ignore her pulsing leg, reaching for her staff again to continue fighting, but it was kicked out of her reach, picked up by her opponent. She curled her fists around air, glaring up at the obvious victor.  
Lotor grinned smugly, kneeling down to look her in the face. His eyebrows furrowed, just realizing that something was different. He reached out to grab her facial covering. The last thing that she wanted was him to know who she was. With her one good leg, she kicked his arm away and lunged for her staff. He merely step-sided her, allowing her to fall forward, crying out again as her knee gave out underneath her. Her hood fell back, showing off her dark hair that did not resemble Matthew Holt in the slightest. With trembling arms, she rolled onto her back, looking up to the edge of his blade, mask gone and utterly defeated.

"Oh." He seemed a bit thrown off, but shook it off quickly. "Had I known I was fighting a woman, I wouldn't have held back as much." He chuckled, lowering his sword and raised his hand to her, despite the gesture, Marisol knew that he had her pinned like a bug. "What's your name?"  
Marisol didn't respond, glaring up at him. She refused to indulge in his game, no matter how sportsmanly he was acting.  
Instead of looking angry at her indignation of his extended hand, a curious expression came over him. 

"Wait a minute...Narti!" He shouted over his shoulder.  
Two figures emerging from the shadows of what would have been her exit. They were both wearing black and orange armor, not unlike the Paladin armor her comrades wore. The smaller one of the two had a long reptilian tail and was hooded and masked like she had been, but there was no slits for their eyes to see out of. There was a cat that perched on their shoulder looking down at her with a scrutinizing expression, but she wasn't scared of the woman, looking shocked at the taller one, her heart leaping into her throat. The man was practically glowing, holstering two pistols with ease. Solid purple eyes shone as he smirked down at her, normally a common gesture from him, but this look was down right sinister. 

"I thought that glare looked familiar." Lotor said, delighted by the look of despair that crossed Marisol's face.

Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that escalated quickly ;)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite a doozy...
> 
> Also, I was debating on whether or not to do a sequel to this, since we are coming to an end to this story pretty soon (another couple of chapters or so). Let me know what you think down below!

***

Marisol struggled to walk, her leg throbbing in time with her pulse, especially with the force that was pushing her forward. The Cat Lady didn't seem to care that she was injured, keeping a firm grip on the hood to push her forward. Her legs shook with the effort it took as she was marched to the bridge, hands tied around her back by a set of glowing handcuffs. Lance kept both pistols train on her, like she was am enemy rather than his is own sister. There was no recognition from him, not even with her true identity. He was more like a robot than a human, not a trace of emotion on his face as he kept a finger on the trigger. What had they done to her baby brother?  
Lotor was leading the way, carrying her staff the same way a grand marshall would at a parade, almost giddy with his victory. 

The bridge was surprisingly empty, Marisol fleetingly hoped that the other Paladins were able to get away from their fights. She was forced on her knees like a prisoner by the Cat Lady, Lance keeping her in check with one pistol. Marisol wanted to curl up in a ball from the pain, but she held out, her head up high to show she wasn't afraid.  
"Open up a hailing frequency for the entire ship, I want to know how the others are faring." Lotor commanded. Narti, stroking the cat that sat on her shoulders, walked to a control panel and messed with the controls. 

A high pitched noise emitted from the console. A blue creature with gigantic bat-like ears popped up on the screen.  
"Zethrid, what is your status?" Lotor asked.  
"The Red and Black humans are down, but the Green one managed to escape through the ventilation system. We're bringing the two prisoners up now."  
"Splendid. Dont worry about the small one, they will pop up once they realized their friends are missing."  
The woman soldier crossed her arm over her chest as her image disappeared. 

Lotor turned back around, watching how Marisol was looking at her brother with utter disbelief. He looked better than what she had seen through the Mind Meld, like any of the torture that she had seen had never happened. Was it all a trick? Did they know the whole time?

"I admit it is kind of twisted having him injure his own kin, but in all honesty I thought you were just another rebel fighter." Her head was tipped back, the staff placed underneath her chin to force her to look at him. She could see how empty his eyes were, even his grins didn't quite reach his eyes. It was unnerving.  
"So tell me, are you a rebel fighter? If not, whom did you get these clothes from? And this staff is unlike anything that the Rebel prisoners have had, who designed it?"  
Marisol met his gaze with a glare. Part of her wanted to tell this asshole off like Lance would, but her leg was hurting her too much to focus on a snarky comeback. She settled for stony silence. 

"Narti." Lotor sighed. The cat on her shoulder narrowed its eyes, Lance moving closer to Marisol. A swift knee to the soft spot in her armor sent her reeling, nearly falling on her face without the use of her hands. She grunted as she was forced to sit upright again.  
"Where is the Altean Castle and the rest of the Lions?" He asked calmly. When she bared her teeth, he backed away, waving his hand at Narti. Lance moved again, this time with his fist to her face. She leaned with the impact, over only to be yanked back up and whacked across the face with one of his pistols. This time she fell over on her side, crying out from the impact on her leg.

"Which Lion did you fly here? How were you able to sneak on board without being seen? How did you find us? Are there more of you waiting?" He asked rapid-fire questions, not giving her anytime to answer. Each question was a different blow, grunting from each as her brother refused to pull punches. It hurt even more knowing that.  
_'This isn't him! This isn't Lance!'_ Her mind screamed at her as he kicked her chest, casting her onto her back.

Lotor wasn't interrogating her, he was trying to break her. When she still didn't respond to the attacks, breathing heavily and ignoring the iron taste in her mouth, she heard him sigh. She looked up just in time to see Lance's foot stomp down on her face, her pathetic cry echoing around the room as blood began to flow freely from her nose and mouth.

"You can continue this unnecessary torture until you're unrecognizable to anyone. Or you can tell me what I want to hear." Lotor said, somehow still level headed, squatting next to her head. Marisol tried to stop the tears of pain as they streaked into her hair, staring up at the tall ceilings above her. "If you were to give up their location, I'd let both of you go. Let him free of the control and let you take an escape pod back to Earth. No interference from any Galra ever again, your planet is far too primitive, it'd only be good for slave labor. So do you choose pain or freedom?"  
She'd be lying if the latter option didn't cross her mind, to take her brother and run, but then she thought of the other Paladins, of Matt and Colleen and everyone back on the castleship that were counting on her and her crew. She couldn't give them up so selfishly, not even her most cowardice self couldn't betray them.  
Instead she spat at him, blood and saliva mixing together in a glob smack dab on his nose and cheeks.  
"Go to Hell, _coño_." 

Rather than looking upset at her rejection, he tilted his head, smiling sinisterly down at her.  
"Okay then, physical torture isn't working. Unfortunately the Druids aren't on board at the moment to force you to spill," She vaguely remembered them from her time in the Mind Meld, she was immensely glad that they were away. "So what are we going to do then? Hurt your friends?" He ushered towards the door. "They aren't my friends, they're the ones that left my brother behind. I was only with them so I could find him." As harsh as it sounded, part of it was true. Another part was hoping that they could avoid getting beat on completely, she would rather be the one taking the hits than them.  
"Huh, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I stuck them in the airlock then?" The brief horror that crossed her face before she could help it was all he needed to know.  
"Don't worry, I will save that for the last resort, I don't like to get my hands dirty." 

The door behind them opened, shuffling of feet signaling that the others had arrived. Marisol tried to turn to see them, but she was forced back up to a kneeling position, every muscle and bone in her body protested as she was moved back by her brother.  
"Lance?" Shiro called, obviously confused at this new development. A moment later, he was thrown to his knees besides her. He was bleeding from a nasty gash on his forehead, bruises already starting to form on his face and neck, but was otherwise unharmed, arms cuffed behind his back. Keith was thrown down on her other side, his arm bent at an awkward angle, completely out cold. Lotor dismissed the remaining generals, telling them to find the Green Paladin and whichever Lion was here.

"You two do know how to put up a fight." Lotor taunted as the door closed, nudging Keith's lifeless form with the end of the staff. Shiro growled protectively, but stopped when Lance aimed a pistol at his forehead. "Maybe you will be more willing to talk than your friend." 

"What have you done to him?" Shiro demanded, looking at the younger boy with a mix of confusion and hurt.  
"Me, I've done nothing to him. Narti on the other hand decided that he needed a little more persuasion to join us." Marisol narrowed her eyes, Lance's screams from the talk with the Galran Mind Meld still fresh in her mind (if that hadn't been staged). "He's the perfect soldier, too bad Team Voltron never used his talent for good. He's never missed." He crooned, patting Lance's shoulder, the human not reacting to the touch. Marisol's leg pulsed as he said this. Lance must have been the one to shoot her. Another stab of betrayal went through her.  
_'It's not him!'_

"I believe you have some information I need, such as the Castle of Lion's location, and the Voltron Lions. Care to weigh in?" Shiro was still staring in horror, as if realizing what he had done to her. He then closed his mouth and looked Lotor in the eye defiantly.

"Perhaps I should raise the stakes?" Lotor suggested. "I am on a bit of a time crunch." Quicker than they could react, Lance pulled out his other pistol and pointed at his own head, finger poised on the trigger. Marisol couldn't stop the gasp that left her lips.  
"I'll give you ten ticks, then I'm putting an end to this. I don't need him, I've got a whole army of generals." He looked directly at Marisol for the next part. "But you so desperately want him back. 10."  
"Please, you don't have to do this!" Marisol's voice croaked at the end.  
"9."  
"Leave him alone, you bastard!" Shiro shouted.  
"8."  
"I don't know where they are! I swear!"  
"7."  
"We don't know where they went after we left!" 

"6." Lotor was starting to show signs of impatience. Marisol felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest.  
"Lance snap out of it. It's me, Mari! Please Lancey!"  
"5." 

"Take me, leave him and take me instead!" Shiro tried to bargain, willing to give his freedom up yet again for his teammate.  
"Sorry, Champion," Lotor sneered. "Your use for the Galra Empire has long expired. 4."  
"Then take me!" Marisol yelled. "Do whatever you want to me, but please don't hurt my baby brother."  
He paused, looking her up and down as if considering, but then shook his head at her. "How interesting, you humans would give up everything for the sake of another. While your offer is tempting, you're just a Earthling. Nothing powerful or knowledgeable, you'd be just as useless as you are right now. 3...2..." He stressed the last number.  
Marisol didn't even try to stop her blubbering. She was going to lose him.  
"1." Narti lifted her hand, ready to give the final command. Shiro looked away, but Marisol couldn't tear her eyes away, trying to memorize every detail on him, knowing it was the last time. 

"Time's..."  
Lotor never got to finish, a flash of Green falling from the ceiling and landing right on top of Lotor. He screeched as he collapsed in a heap. Shiro suddenly rolled over his shoulder, his right hand turning bright purple like the lights around them. The cuffs broke off and he charged at Narti, his arm still glowing. He took her down like a football linebacker, but she snaked out of his grip before he could plunge his glowing fist into her face. (So that was his weapon...)

Once the mind control lady hit the ground, Lance dropped his guns, looking blankly at the wall like a marionette doll without a puppet master. With him subdued and the lady occupied, Marisol struggled to move, trying to nudge Keith back into consciousness with her limited mobility. She couldn't fight with her leg, but she could get her brother out with some help.  
"Damn it, sorry about this." She kicked his side with the least amount of padding as hard as she could, gasping from the recoil. His eyes shot open, getting his bearings as he curled instinctively inward. 

"What the hell?" He asked confused, quickly becoming aware of the situation.  
"Shut up and untie me." She demanded. He struggled to his knees, wincing as he moved his injured arm. There was a small gap in the back part of his armor that one of the lady guard must have overlooked when he was unconscious, pulling out an obsidian knife and slicing through the metal handcuffs on himself with ease before moving to Marisol's hands. 

She turned to get up, aimed on her staff that Lotor had dropped when Pidge arrived. She crawled over, ignoring the pain in her leg and avoiding the other Paladins as they teamed up to fight the Cat Lady, her tail wicked fast and super sharp. Just as she was about to grasp the staff, sharp claws dug into her scalp, yanking her roughly by her hair. She flew across the room like a paper airplane, hitting the opposite wall with an echoing thud, her head recoiling. She was just getting her bearings again when Lotor grabbed a handhold of her hair once more, nails clawing at her scalp. He was trying to drag her away from the main fight, maybe use her as leverage for the others to surrender. She used the last bit of fight in her to try to dislodge his grip. Lotor snarled down at her, a thin trickle of blood oozing from his hairline, not a trace of the calm interrogator from before. He stopped for a moment just to stomp down on her injured knee. Marisol screamed and convulsed as pain burned up and down her nerves. Lotor continued to drag her along like a doll. 

"Marisol!" Shiro shouted. She looked up to see her staff flying in her direction. It landed centimeters from her, grabbing a hold of it with her ankles. With some fumbling that Lotor might have figured was her still struggling, she managed to grasp it, flipping a switch that she had been too afraid to try out until this moment. Matt had said not to use it unless it was absolutely necessary. Getting dragged away by the asshole that stole her brother seemed like the necessary moment to her. She drove it upwards, lodging it right between his shoulder blades and pressing down on the button as hard as she could. 

The sound of crackling emerged from the staff, Lotor freezing up as currents of electricity ran through his armor. He shouted in pain, but refused to let her go. Marisol in turn was forced to experience it, her body acting like a conductor, electric charges coursing through her. She convulsed in the death grip, unable to take her finger off of the button, continuing the pain for the both of them. She couldn't even open her mouth, a scream pushing past her clenched teeth.

Then it stopped. Maybe it had been hours or maybe it had been seconds, the electric current had fried her brain a bit, making everything seem fuzzy and distorted. Lotor released her and fell where he stood, unmoving save for a few twitches of the aftershock. Marisol tumbled to her side, the staff falling and rolling out of reach. She was trying to catch her breath and stay conscious against the black spots. She blinked slowly, it felt like she was submerged in honey, staring at the dark ceiling as her vision swam. 

Keith suddenly filled her limited, spotty vision, patting her face to keep her awake. She couldn't feel the touch, had the nerves been damaged? How bad was she?  
"Come on, wake up." He muttered over and over again. She coughed lightly, letting him know she was still alive.  
"Jesus, I thought you died."  
"Were you worried?" She smirked slightly despite feeling like she was dying. 

He helped her stand up, minding her injuries, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, carrying the staff in his free hand, grimacing when he aggravated his injury. The whole room shook, when had it caught on fire? She could hear voices screaming, calling out orders, but none of it made sense to her. Were they under attack?

"Shiro!" Keith yelled. Shiro looked up from where Lance had fallen...  
Wait. Lance!  
"Lance!" Marisol started forward, trying to push through the pain to reach her brother. Keith stopped her from moving too far as she spasmed where she stood.

"Let's get out of here! The Green Lion is waiting for us!" Pidge shouted, Shiro picked a noodle-like Lance up and holding him in a fireman's carry as if he weighed nothing. Marisol leaned heavily against Keith, who helped her walk, Pidge took the staff from Keith and helped protect her injured teammates.

"The Galra..." Marisol started, still quite confused, why weren't they chasing after them?  
"Trying to fix the giant hole in the ship, thanks to Pidge's Lion. Lotor's generals went to the battle cruiser as soon as it showed up and started firing. But we've gotta move now." Keith was much stronger than he appeared, able to help her lanky body move around without too much of a hassle, even if she was mostly dead weight.

The Lion sat in the giant hole, claws dug in and the tail firing lasers. The Galra were trying to fire at it and simultaneously not be flung into open space. Keith activated his shield as they turned their guns to them, covering Marisol as they hurried towards the Green Lion. They stumbled into the open hatch, Shiro and Pidge following close behind them, the massive jaws closing behind. Pidge raced ahead to fly them out. Shiro and Keith eased their injured friends down. As soon as she was seated, she crawled towards Lance, ignoring Keith's protests to stay put. 

Marisol couldn't help the panic on her face, trying to use her useless hands to desperately search for a pulse, any sign that he was alive. Just under the collar of his armor, his blood pounded, thready but present.  
He was alive.  
Lance was alright. He was unconscious, covered in small bruises and cuts, but he was breathing, his heart was pumping. She allowed herself to be weak, clutching Lance's hand in her own as she shook, whether from aftershocks or from relief. She could have cried if she could feel her face.  
He was alive. He was going to be okay.

"...Allura...we're...three pods... I...look...Keith..." He spoke severely into the com. Why would they need three pods? Was he or Keith hurt? Was Pidge?  
"...sol, you... lean back..." Shiro said, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. Her head started to spin. She panted, grasping Lance even tighter to stay awake. She could see Shiro moving his mouth but nothing came out of it. Was he alright? He should get his voice checked when they got back.  
Everything was getting sluggish and slow once more, black creeping around her line of sight. She tried to grab the arm holding her shoulder as she started to topple over, but she never hit the ground. 

***

Colleen was tired of waiting for a response from their Paladins. According to Coran, it had been almost eight vargas since they had left, they had only planed on being gone for four (whatever that actually meant). She nearly wore a hole in her shoes from pacing anxiously around the bridge. Matt filled in the Blue Paladin's seat, playing with the string of the sweatpants he was wearing. He tried to remind her that no news could have meant good news, but with as much being at stake, it was a very big assumption to make. 

Colleen was tapping her foot, sitting in Katie's chair, when static came in over the communications. Allura quickly opened the frequency, worry evident in her face.  
"-ou copy? Allura? Coran?" Shiro's distorted voice boomed out of the stereo. Coran tuned the frequency while everyone else stood up straighter.  
"Yes! We read you Shiro!" Allura said. 

"Allura, we're going to need three pods ready, maybe four, I haven't gotten to look at Keith yet. We're on our way back." His voice sounded normal. Colleen let out a quiet puff of air as the others exclaimed in excitement. They were alright.  
"We're on it." Allura said, nodding at Coran to ready the healing pods, he took off in a run. "I'll open up the wormhole."  
"Thank you princess." He said, his voice suddenly tense. "Marisol, you should lean back, we don't know how strong that electricity was." 

Matt's head shot up at the mention of electricity, pushing himself to stand.  
"Shit, did you just say electricity?" Matt ignored the scandalized noise his mother made.  
"Yeah, it came from your staff. She zapped Lotor with it but got caught in the cross fire." He said.  
"How long did she hold the button?" Matt asked severely.  
"I don't know, thirty seconds, maybe longer. It's like she couldn't let go."  
"No, her muscles would have locked up. Like when you taser yourself, you can't stop. Except this taser has the same power of a lightning strike on Earth." Matt paled, fiddling his hands together. "A one second pulse is enough to bring anyone down. How the hell did they survive that?"  
"I don't know... Marisol? Marisol!" He shouted over the com to someone on the other side. "She's passed out." 

Colleen felt her stomach plummet. Allura activated the transport, trying to focus solely on that task. The wormhole opened, a small green dot dashing through before it closed a moment later, a green light streaking the space behind them from how fast they were flying back.  
"Coran get those pods and the scanners ready, at least one of them is severely hurt!" Allura commanded to the coms as soon as they were out of enemy territory, barely listening to the reply as the three of them charged out of the room.

The trek down to the Green Lion's hangar was one of the longest of Colleen's life, falling second to receiving a folded flag in honor of her husband and son at a military funeral. Even though that was only ten feet, it felt like ten miles to receive the reminder of what she and Katie lost. This time was a race against the clock as they descended to the hangars.  
_'I should have known!'_ She scolded herself as she sprinted. _'I shouldn't have let her go! I should have made them turn around!'_

The four of them arrived in the hangar just as the Lion was landing. The head dropped down, even from a distance she could smell blood and something like burnt hair. Shiro appeared, a nasty cut on his forehead but otherwise unharmed, hurrying down the ramp with a limp body cradled in his arms.  
Colleen held back the painful whine that rose in her throat, seeing the state that her young friend was in. Marisol looked impossibly small in his arms, even as lanky as she was, like a child being carried by their father. She couldn't see the extent of the injuries, but judging by the worried look that overtook Shiro, it was very bad. Matt caught her before she could stumble forward, his arms shaking at the sight.  
"Allura, help Pidge and Keith. Matt, with me. I need you to tell me about the function on your staff." He commanded as he marched swiftly past, Matt hurrying besides him. 

Colleen looked to see Katie helping Keith tag-team a prisoner who looked a day away from dying of starvation. She didn't know that this was a raid as well?  
"Mom!" Katie shouted, dropping the arm to race towards her mother. Colleen embraced her tightly, trying to hold back tears from seeing how unscathed she was. 

Allura took over Katie's space with Keith, helping him walk the weak prisoner down to the med bay.  
"What happened? Are you hurt?" She started doing her own check-up on her kid, proving that at least someone was unmarked.  
"I'm fine mom, I promise. I came out much better than the others actually." She almost sounded guilty.  
"What happened?" Colleen asked gently.  
"We got separated, Lotor's generals captured Keith, Shiro, and Marisol. He was threatening to kill Lance for a location on the other Lions, until I dropped a ceiling tile on his head. A fight broke out, but my Lion came in and saved us. I got us out, but Lance and Marisol..." She trailed off, staring off where they had disappeared too.

"You're safe now honey." She rubbed her arms, trying to keep her grounded.  
"We're all safe. All of us." Katie stressed the last part. Colleen cocked her head in confusion.  
"I found Dad. He was on the main ship, they must have moved him when Matt escaped. He's okay, malnourished and half dead, but he's alive."  
Colleen choked back a sob, this time with tears of relief, pulling her daughter close once more. Katie was trying to hold back tears too, shaking from the effort. 

"I am so proud of you Katie." Colleen wiped away the tears that had managed to roll down her cheeks.  
"We-we should go check on the others." She hiccuped, turning the attention to the grave situation at hand. Colleen took her into her arms as they walked down, both stuck in their own of thoughts of worry.  
The Med-Bay was full of activity and overlapping voices. Three figures lay on erected tables, Coran scanning Samuel on one, Hunk and Keith undressing Lance on another, looking at a puss-oozing cut on his back, and Shiro and Matt looking at a screen by Marisol's side. All of them were unconscious and looked worse for wear. 

She didn't get a good look at Lance earlier, Hunk having carried him by when she was talking to Katie, but besides some bruising and minor lacerations to his face, he was fine. Then again his injuries could be internal, or more of mental scarring from weeks of torture.  
Samuel was like Katie said, skin and bones, the standard prison rags falling off his form. His skin was sallow and sickly.  
Marisol had blood dried down the side of her head from a head injury, along with broken skin and bruises forming along her face and neck. Her left leg was wrecked worse than before, but there was too much blood to see where it even began. The gloves that she wore were burnt away around her palms and fingers, parts of her clothes ripped opened. Burnt hair tainted the air around them. Her limbs twitched every so often and her face was screwed up in pain, breathing heavily.

By the time she had recovered from the awful sight, Sam and Lance were settled into the pods, a soft hiss as glass appeared around them and the healing cycles began.  
"Why isn't she in a pod yet?" Colleen asked, trying not to sound demanding.  
"It isn't safe to move her yet, she still has electricity running through her. Keith and Shiro got burned from carrying her. We needs to expel the currents before she can heal." Coran explained softly. Colleen noticed that Shiro's chest plate and Keith's side and shoulder pad did have marks from where she must had been leaning against, but they seemed fine, the armor taking most of the impact.

"I still don't get what happened to her?" Hunk asked in a small voice, looking over the girl as Coran ran a scanner over the length of her body.  
"Matt?" Shiro turned it to him. "Tell them what you told me." 

Matt seemed very nervous with everyone staring at him, but continued on in a steady voice.  
"So both Katie and I had been working on improvements to my staff, trying to make it more versatile and such. One of the modifications was a electrical current, it can leave your opponent immobilized with just one zap. Each second that the button is held, the stronger the current grows. I warned her about it when we were changing, I told her not to use it unless absolutely necessary and to make sure she wasn't touching them."  
"How long did she use it for?" Katie asked, paling slightly at the idea of one of her inventions causing so much damage.  
"Somewhere between twenty and thirty seconds. That's being generous." Matt said quietly. "Had she gone any longer than forty-five seconds, she would have turned into a vegetable. After a minute, she would be dead." Everyone blanched at those statistics. 

"Can we expel the extra energy running through her?" Allura asked Coran.  
"Yes, but it will be painful, going through it all over again. Once it's gone though, the only thing that will need healing is the physical injuries." He said grimly, looking at the scanner and turning a few knobs and buttons.  
"What if we just left it? Would it fade away?" Hunk asked.  
"I'm afraid not Number Two. The electricity will continue to build inside of her until her brain fries."  
"Oh." Hunk stated solemnly.  
"But we have to help her! Coran, you're the expert. What do you think?"  
"I feel the obvious answer is to get it out." Keith interrupted Coran, pushing off Katie's attempt to put his arm in a sling, clutching onto it with a slight grimace. "If it's a few minutes of pain versus death, then we need to help her live. Lance doesn't even know she's here. We just got them back, it would be wrong to let her die on our watch." No one argued with him, casting glances between Coran, Lance's form in the fogged up glass, and Marisol, who let out the slightest whine of pain. 

"Just try to make it quick." Shiro gave him permission.  
Coran nodded tensely before activating a switch on his control device, gently placing it on her forehead. 

The screams that filled the room shook Colleen to her core. Marisol cried out in excruciating pain, sobbing and thrashing around. Allura stopped her feet from kicking while Shiro and Matt held her arms down, Colleen settled at her head, pulling the dead hair away from her face as if to soothe her. Keith grit his teeth and looked away, trying to ignore the situation as Hunk pulled Katie into a hug, turning her from the scene. Marisol broke out in sweat, Colleen flinching back as she was shocked. The others grimaced, but held on.

It took a few more moments until it was clear from her body, the electricity hanging heavy in the air similar to a storm was approaching. Coran stepped away to let them help get her ready. Allura peeled off her shoes while the other two Paladins worked off the cloak and hood. Colleen tried to ignore the blood and marks on her exposed skin.  
"Should we get her in a cryosuit?" Shiro asked.  
"No time, she needs the pod now." Allura commanded.  
Matt swept her in his arms, despite the protests of letting the others help him, gently setting her on her feet in the pod. The glass shut as immediately as soon as Matt moved his arms, beginning the healing process. She wasn't even strapped in properly, but sometimes protocols had to be ignored. 

Colleen couldn't help but stare at the peaceful face behind the glass, a stark contrast to her moments ago. She looked so much younger than what she had looked when this trip began. She had grown up so much in her time knowing this young lady, more than anyone her age should have in such a short time. Colleen almost regretted having her on this mission, for dragging her out to find the cave of weird drawings, for tracking her down in the first place. She wouldn't be on the brink of death if it wasn't for her. 

"Mom?" She felt a hand grab her own. She glanced over at her son, who looked just as anxious as she felt. "She's going to be okay, she's stronger than what we know."  
"I know honey." She pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "She's going to get through this."


	14. Chapter 14

***

Marisol felt as if she had been thrown headfirst in a snow bank, shivering as she came to. She opened her eyes slowly, allowing her vision to come into focus. Everything was tinted blue, a glass in front of her distorting everything like a funhouse mirror. She lifted a curious hand just as the glass fell away. She carefully stepped out, bare feet unsteady as she took her first steps. Gloved hands grabbed her arm to stop her from stumbling. 

"Welcome back!" Coran said excitedly, startling her slightly. "We were quite worried about you Number Three's Sister." She blinked a couple times, getting her bearing once more. Where was she? She was in a part of the castle she didn't recognize. It was darker than the rest of the rooms, a handful of large pods circled the room and medical equipment lay around on little floating trays. Some type of hospital wing? "I'm surprised that you are out this early. You're the first one."  
"How long has it been?" Her voice had a harsh rasp to it, but whatever they had done, she felt better than she had since she started this journey. Like the past battle had never happened. She looked down at her leg, able to see her skin through the tears in her fabric, seeing that it was normal sized and completely healed.  
"Twenty Vargas. We thought you'd been in for at least another five."

"She likes to prove people wrong." A new voice pipped in. Marisol looked over to see Colleen standing up from where she had been seated next to another pod, teary eyed and exhausted. "She's a stubborn one." Marisol carefully stepped away from Coran (keeping close in case she did topple), heading over to her friend, almost collapsing into her open arms. Colleen didn't even sway with the added pressure, hugging her tightly, pushing her greasy hair out of the way as they embraced each other. "I'm so sorry." Marisol muttered, voice catching as it worked it's way out.  
"It's okay, you're okay. Just don't scare me like that again." Colleen laughed wetly.  
"I won't." Marisol promised, everything starting to come back to her. Sneaking onto the Lion, getting trapped away from everyone, getting her ass handed to her several times, Lance...

She bolted up like she received a shock.  
"Where's Lance?"  
"He's alright, look." Colleen reassured her, pointing across the room. Marisol followed her finger, seeing the silhouette of her brother in a pod like the one she had just emerged from. She slowly walked over, looking up at him like he was a ghost.  
"He was in pretty bad shape when you came back, both of you were. He's probably going to be in there for at least a couple more hours." Marisol gently laid her hand on the glass, partially wishing it would fall away like hers had. But the surface stayed solid and cold under her palm.  
"What happened?" Colleen gently grasped her arm. "When your brother was in captivity, he went through a very traumatic ordeal, some type of brainwashing I think we concluded. Whatever that one General was doing to him, it was overheating his brain. Had it been any longer, he might not have made it out. Coran and Allura are still a little worried about damage done to the brain, but he should be done in the next few hours or so. Maybe sooner." 

Marisol looked away from Colleen before she could see her trembling lip. A third pod was in use. Silver hair stood out through the glass, prison rags tattered and hanging off his form.  
"Is that...?"  
"Pidge found him in the ship when she was looking for Lance. They must have moved him from the camps after Matt was rescued." Colleen dabbed at her eyes, Marisol gripped her hand tightly, letting out a wet laugh before tugging her into another tight embrace. Turns out both of them had found their families in the end.

Colleen grabbed a blanket for her, lightly suggesting that she should change into something warmer, since the clothes that she was in were almost completely ruined. Marisol politely declined, she didn't want to leave Lance's side, especially when he was still venerable. She settled down in a small pile in front of the machine holding him, like a little kid waiting up to see if Santa Claus was really coming down their chimney.

Coran stuck around, claiming he was recalibrating the empty pods, but his constant wayward glances towards the Blue Paladin said otherwise. After Marisol caught him openly staring at him, clearing her throat to grab his attention, he confessed.  
"Lance has saved my life, probably more times than I'll ever know. I need to know that he's going to be okay." Marisol nodded understandingly. Lance was a hard person to dislike, even hard-hearts (like Keith) couldn't say they didn't like him. 

Several people that stopped by the med bay throughout the day. Pidge, claiming she was working on something for the castle, settling in front of Sam's pod next to her mother with her laptop open. After a little while though, Pidge became distracted from the screen and kept looking up at her father. Colleen gently pulled the laptop away with little resistance. They sat touching shoulders, grasping hands tightly as they looked at their family.

Hunk brought down plates of dinner for the three of them, knowing that none of the three ladies were going to leave the med bay anytime soon, not even for food. He hugged her tightly, similar to their first hug, except Marisol returned the favor. He helped to fill her in on the gaps in her memory, but he was still pretty vague about her getting in the Med-Bay. She didn't push it though, even though she felt a little bit jumpy. He treated them to some actual food, not the usual jello-like goo. The strange pastry tasted almost like pizza rolls back home, Marisol's heart aching at the familiar taste. 

Shiro stopped by to check on Sam and Lance, sticking around to talk with Colleen and Pidge for a little bit. Mostly just relaying information from the bridge and what was currently going on. It had been almost a day and there was still no sign of Lotor coming after them, which was a good and a bad thing, as they had no idea where he could have gone. But everything had slowed down and they were hiding in an asteroid field until Lance was back on his feet. The others had just returned from a diplomatic visit to a planet, trying to take their minds off of their injured friend. Marisol could not care any less about the politics now, she just wanted her brother to wake up. Just before he left, he gently grasped Marisol's shoulder, giving a small smile when she looked up. 

Keith came down after a couple hours, his arm strapped in a sling. It wasn't broken, just sprained so he didn't need a healing pod, or so he claimed. He nearly wore a hole in the metal floor from pacing in front of Lance's pod, mildly annoying Marisol with how antsy he was. As if his impatience would speed up the progress. Shiro came down after an hour of this and forced him to go and rest.

Pidge was nearly falling asleep when her father's pod beeped and opened. Both Holts sprung to their feet to steady him, embracing the minute he recognized them. Coran left to grab Matt to complete the family reunion while the ladies told him everything he needed to know, their lively chatter filling the room. Matt came charging in minutes later, embracing his father with a running hug. They were all talking over each other, explaining how they found each other. Marisol looked away, giving the family time to reunite in private. 

Marisol pulled the blanket tighter around her and looked up at her baby brother. He looked older than she remembered. There was a small scar near his eye, his facial hair finally starting to grow out, (she had often called him baby face because of his hairless face), and his hair was getting long and shaggy, curling around the bottom of his ears. If he could see himself, he would declare it as a tragedy, knowing how much he cared for his appearance. (It wasn't vain, it was just him appreciating what he was given, as he would say before hogging the bathroom for a half an hour). 

A sturdy hand clasped on her shoulder, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin. She looked up, standing up quickly when she saw it was Mr Holt, suppressing the urge to salute to the commander.  
"So you're the young lady who brought us all here?" Commander Holt asked.  
"Yes sir." She said quietly. "Though I didn't..." She didn't get to finish before he embraced her tightly.  
"Thank you for keeping them safe." He whispered.  
"O-Of course." She said quietly as hesitant arms went around his shoulders, not sure how to respond. 

Matt came up behind him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a friendly.  
"Didn't I tell you to not be holding onto the guy when you pressed the button?" He asked her teasingly. "Amateur move, McClain."  
"Yeah, yeah, he cornered me and I panicked. Sue me." She laughed quietly, picking at the frayed fabric of the pants. "Sorry about your pants, and the rest of your clothes."  
"It's alright, it's not the outfit that makes the man. I can get more clothes at the rebel base. Besides, your sweatpants are way comfier." He shrugged his hands into the pockets. 

The door to the Med-Bay whooshed open, Shiro standing timidly in the doorway, as if unsure whether to enter or not. She had never seen the leader look so unsure of himself. Marisol stepped away to let the three of them properly reunite for the first time since their failed mission. Sam pulled both his son and Shiro into a tight hug, remaining there for a long time. This is probably the first time they've all felt safe since leaving Earth two years ago. 

Marisol let herself sit down again, only to jump up when a light flashed on the pod. The glass dissolved, revealing her brother dressed in some futuristic suit. He swayed where he stood, attempting to walk out but ended up stumbled forward, caught barely by Marisol, who nearly collapsed from the sudden deadweight. His eyes narrowed in confusion, not recognizing the arms he had fallen into, working his way up to her face. Marisol gave a hesitant smile when the realization dawned on him. Arms were thrown around her and his head buried in her neck before she could say anything. 

To be honest, she expected some lame remark from him wishing it was Allura here to catch him or a corny joke, but this was a bit unexpected. His hug was constricting, but then again, so was hers to him. Even after rescuing him and sitting outside of his healing chamber for hours, it was still hard to believe that he was here in her arms, a bit too skinny for her liking, but alive and healthy.

"What are you-? How are you-?" He couldn't finish his thoughts, absolutely shocked, looking her up and down completely lost before brining her back in for another embrace.  
"It's a long story. I'm just glad you're okay." She muttered into his shirt, trying to hide the tears clouding her eyes.  
"I'm more than okay, I'm the King of Okay, but what about you..." He trailed off, catching a glimpse of the tattered clothes she was still in. She probably should have taken Colleen suggestion to change to save the worried look across his face.  
"I'm fine, I promise. Better now that you're here." Lance couldn't help but chuckle, rocking her back and forth.  
He pushed her out with a small gasp. "How is Mama? The kids? God, I left you all without even saying anything, you must have been worried sick!" He exclaimed, slightly worried as if he just realized.  
"They're fine. Everyone back home is just fine." The last thing she wanted him to hear was that they all thought he had died and mourned over an empty casket, at least not yet. "Though they might wonder when you started to grow facial hair." She teased, poking his face.  
"I was a prisoner without a razor for an undetermined amount of time. Sue me." He said with a small smile on his face. "Besides, ladies love a guy with a beard." He cocked an eyebrow down at her.  
She punched his shoulder. He was acting like her little brother again, thanking whatever form of higher power that helped him. 

Someone behind them cleared their throat. Marisol and Lance looked around, seeing the entire team behind them, slightly bewildered but smiling none the less. (It occurred to Marisol later that they might have just been jabbering completely in Spanish, which apparently didn't translate on the Altean Translators). 

"What? Is there something on my face?" Lance asked with an easy smile, looking at his team with a soft fondness in his eyes.  
"Lance! Buddy!" Hunk charged forward, Marisol quickly backing up as Hunk latched himself onto his best friend. He pulled him into a tight hug, swinging his legs. Lance returned the hug with as much fervor as he could.  
"I've missed your hugs almost as much as I've missed actual food." 

Pidge was next, launching herself as soon as Hunk let him go, burying her face into his chest.  
"Pidgeotto!" He said happily, before she pulled away and socked him in the gut. He groaned and Colleen made a disapproving motherly noise.  
"Don't ever sacrifice yourself like that again, you hear me?" She demanded, pointing a finger in his stomach where she had punched.  
"I can try." He sounded earnest, which was good enough for her. She wiped her eyes with her sleeves, stepping back with her family. Lance waved at them, no need for introductions.  
Shiro came up and clasped his shoulder.  
"Welcome back."  
"It's good to be back." He said with a tight smile. 

He got hugged from Coran and Allura, both exclaiming how happy they were to see him.  
"It wasn't the same without you, but now we are all reunited." Allura said happily, blinking back tears.  
Keith didn't hug Lance, but nudged his shoulder.  
"Glad you made it."  
"Wouldn't have missed it, I even missed your stupid haircut." Keith rolled his eyes and shook his head, but there was a hint of a smile. 

"I still can't believe you're here." He turned back around to Marisol. "How did you even find me?"  
"Well, that is a long and tragic story, filled with epic adventures and a little bit of drama." Marisol stated.  
"Sound like my kind of story." He said, his grin growing even bigger, if that were possible. "It better be good."


	15. Chapter 15

***

"Wait, you punched Commander Iverson... Like really punched him? In the face?" Lance asked Marisol, staring like she had sprouted a second head.  
"Seriously? After all that I've just said --flying a robotic lion through space, using telepathy to find you, turning that royal brat into a s'more, and that's what you can't believe?"  
"Her name is Blue, and I fly that lion on a regular basis, but I've never got to punch Commander Iverson."  
She chuckled and rolled her eyes at him. "Maybe when you get back, you'll get a chance."  
"After what he put us and all of our families, I might have to wait in a line." Lance pointed out. 

Marisol swung her feet in the air, waiting in the medical bay for Coran to come back with her results. Apparently she had almost died from the electrical shock on Matt's staff, having it flow through her body even after letting the button go. They had to extract it, which was supposedly as painful as it sounded. Even after the healing pods, Coran insisted that she be examined by more machines to see if there was any damage done to her nerves or muscles that the healing pods couldn't pick up. Everybody else was going up to the kitchen to make a celebratory lunch, but Lance opted to stay and wait, letting her tell the story of how she got here. She filled him in on what had happened, glossing over her injuries as much as possible. (According to Coran, the blast to her knee tore her ACL, fighting on it caused it to sever completely and completely wrecked her muscle structure, but thankfully it was still fixable with the scientific machines. Without the pods, she might have never been able to walk on that leg again). 

She was mostly worried about the electric charge though. One second pulse was enough to sate an elephant according to Matt, and she had held onto the button for at least half a minute. She was still a bit twitchy, probably more due to nerves than the shock at this point though. 

Coran re-entered the room, holding a tablet in his hand.  
"What's up Doc?" Lance asked.  
He squinted, if Coran didn't get that reference, he didn't say. He pulled up an orange holographic screen, displaying a 3D version of her body.  
"So the charge did damage to the nerves, the healing pods helped out as much as they could, but you might have some tremors for the foreseeable future. Honestly, you're extremely lucky that we got you in the pods in time." 

"What about any kind of brain damage?" She remembered being quite scatterbrained afterwords. He typed on the tablet, pulling up a scan of her brain.  
"None that we could see, but this is quite interesting. On the left is your brain currently, and on the right is a normal functioning brain." Coran pulled up the images. The brain on the right had more dark spots than her's. Her's was lit up in the middle and the front of the brain.  
"I can't determine if it was from the electrical current or not, but it appears that your neurons are firing rapidly in these sections that aren't in a normal human's brain."  
"In the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe." She muttered as she touched the parts of her head, remembering the biology classes that had hammered it into her head. "Do you think it'll effect me in any way?"  
"Only time will tell, but otherwise your as healthy as any other human on this ship."  
Marisol sighed in relief. If the worst thing that came out of it was shaking hands, she would count that as a win. 

"Do you think you could get super powers this way?" Lance suddenly asked. "Like being able to shock people or something?"  
"Maybe I can control lightning like Thor." Marisol joked, but Lance looked excited. 

"That would be so cool if you got super powers though!"  
"Trust me, you do not want to go through what I did just to be able to shock people." She grimaced, sliding off of the table. "I'm starving, I can smell the food from the kitchen." Marisol cracked her knuckles and her arms.  
"The kitchen is on the opposite side of the Castle, and like three floors up. How can you smell that far away?" Lance said suspiciously.  
"Maybe that's my superpower." Marisol grinned widely.  
Coran gave them both perplexed looks, as if wondering why that would be a plus for the humans, but remained silent as they walked through the halls, pausing in front of the elevator doors.

"Well, Miss Bloodhound, what else do you smell?"  
"You, because you need a shower." She nudged him as they walked, trying to throw him off balance.  
"Me? I've never smelled badly in my entire life!" He protested.  
"What about that time you opened up Ablueto's sewage pipe and caused it to leak everywhere?"  
He gasped, "That was your fault!"  
"I'm not the one who opened it."  
"You dared me!"  
"You were too stubborn to back down." 

He opened his mouth to continue arguing, but the elevator door opened.  
"I'll meet you in the dinning room, I should go change." Marisol shoved him forwards, purposely causing him to trip. Lance stuck out his tongue as Coran followed him into the elevator shaft, shaking his head as they bickered. The door closed behind the two of them and swiftly moved upwards. 

Marisol decided to take the stairs up to her room. It was her first time being alone in forever, she was going to cherish it for as long as possible. As much as she liked everyone on the castleship, it could get overwhelming being surrounded by the same eight people all of the time no matter where she went. The castle was only so big. She let her mind roam as she walked down the halls. The electricity current weighed heavily on her mind, and how it affected her. Had she lost memories? Or could it affect parts of her motor ability? Maybe it would enhance it, like the scans suggested, but that was being highly optimistic. She remembered reading articles in school about people who had been struck by lightning and had side effects that were possible.  
She shuddered as she entered her dark room, just as quiet as it had been that morning when she left. Maybe nothing had happened and everything was going to be okay. She really shouldn't overthink it. 

She stripped out of Matt's ruined clothes and gloves, pushing them down the laundry chute even though they probably should have gone in the trash, and grabbed jeans and a t-shirt from her own bag. Marisol took a moment to allow her body to breathe. Wearing ill fitting clothes for over 24 hours was not ideal, her own clothing looking more and more lovely. She noticed that her favorite sweatpants were still missing. If she wasn't careful, she might never get them back from Matt. She was pulling up her pants when she noticed something different on the sides of her legs. Raised red scars that trailed over her thighs down to her feet, standing out angrily against her skin.  
Those were not there before the rescue mission.  
Without putting her shirt on, she rushed over to the connected bathroom to get a closer look. She turned on the light and nearly yelled as she looked at her terrified reflection. 

Those similar webbed scars ran up and down her body, spreading in spindle fingers across her chest. In some places, where the current had run through the most, her hands and arms especially the scars were black and purple like bruises. It looked like it was branching out from her spine and all along her arms and legs, which had turned her skin almost black. That must have been what they were so worried about, seeing how close the scars were to her heart.

Marisol carefully tracing the scars with trembling fingers. They didn't hurt anymore, but she could have sworn that a jolt of electricity still ran through her, just under the surface, ready to strike and hurt again. A constant and cruel reminder of what had happened, how she had almost failed her family.  
Trying to even her breathing, she walked back into the bedroom, picking out a longer sleeve shirt that covered up most of the scarring. It still stuck out on her hands and her neck, but pulling the sleeves past her knuckles and leaving her hair down eradicated them all from view. Maybe she shouldn't have thrown the gloves out with the rest of the clothing. She took several deep breaths and ran a hand through her hair, acting like everything was completely normal. She had been pretending to be calm from the start, she could continue it for just a little while longer.

***

Marisol had a blast down in the dinning hall. She ate the little bit of non-goo food that Hunk managed to scavenge up at the last second until she thought she was going to pop, watching Lance and Keith pick at each other like children until Allura threatened to break them up, and listening to the marvelous tales of their adventures (Marisol was curious to see this cow that Lance and Pidge co-owned after stealing coins from the community fountain). The others told Lance about what had happened since he last saw them, filling in gaps in Marisol's recount, the others butting in when they saw the chance or if someone got it wrong. For a brief moment, she forgot about the scars.

"Oh man, you should have seen Lotor's face when I landed on his head!" Pidge said as she stuffed her face. "He screamed like a pansy."  
Lance laughed, not noticing how Shiro and Marisol exchanged looks. Sure, it would have been funny if Lance hadn't been pointing a gun at himself. Totally hilarious.  
No one mentioned that part to him, or the fact that he was responsible for some of the damage done to his sister. No need to guilt him for actions that he couldn't control, especially not at the celebration party. He seemed to be taking everything in stride though, laughing and having a good time with his friends.

"Then Marisol barbecued Lotor with her staff and we high-tailed it out of there." Keith said with a small grin.  
"Do you think Lotor could have died?" Hunk asked. "That would have saved us a lot of trouble."  
"No, I saw him piloting the ship as we retreated." Pidge explained. "But he looked extra crispy."  
"Damn." Lance said. 

"I think this is a good time for a toast." Sam Holt stood up, raising a glass of a strange liquid Coran had poured for them.  
"Actually, it's called Nunvil." Coran corrected him.  
"No, no. A toast is kind of a declaration to celebrate, everybody raises their glasses and then we drink together." Shiro tried to explain.  
"But there's no toast involved?"  
"...No..."  
"Then why is it-"  
"It's fine, let's see what this custom is about." Allura interrupted him gently, raising her glass excitedly, Coran shrugging and following suit. 

Sam continued after a brief pause, looking at how eager the aliens were to participate, clearing his throat.  
"Alright then. A toast to family, both blood related and not. Not all of us knew each other before we came here, not all of us are actually supposed to be here now. But yet we sit here at this table, united by a common cause and bounded by a force that is stronger than anything else in the universe. To the defenders of the universe. May all that stand against us fall and that we lead the universe into a time of peace."  
"Here here." Lance said as they lifted their own glasses, gently clinking them with their neighbors.  
"Toast!" Allura and Coran said happily as they tapped each others glasses before tipping the cups back. 

Even though it smelled awful, it didn't taste like anything, kinda like room temperature water. All the other humans gagged slightly, apparently disgusted by the taste. Matt spit it back into his cup when he thought no one was looking.  
Marisol shrugged. Maybe her tastebuds had been shot too, and judging by their looks, it was a blessing in this moment as she watched as Lance threatened Hunk with his drink, trying to pour it down his shirt. 

The feast continued on into the night, but one by one, the occupants eventually retreated to their rooms. Sam and Colleen went arm-in-arm with each other, Pidge and Matt exchanging humorous disgusted looks at their parents showing affection.  
Hunk, Matt, Keith, and Pidge followed soon afterwords, heading off to their respected rooms with full bellies and smiles on their faces. Allura and Coran walked away, looking at a tablet that almost looked like the one that had Marisol's data on it, muttering among themselves. Shiro bid everyone else goodnight after helping clean up. That left Marisol and Lance to walk back in to their quarters in a comfortable silence. 

She walked him to his quarters, but hesitated once outside the door to bid him goodnight. She had so many questions that she was dying to ask him. How long was he under mind control? Did he remember anything? What exactly did they do to him? Was he ever scared?  
All the curiosity died on her tongue when she saw his face, heavy with emotions that she couldn't understand, shining through when he thought she wasn't looking. She used to be able to read her baby brother like a book, he wore his heart on his sleeve proudly, but now his worn down face hid what he was thinking. Despite the laughter and joy they had this evening, he was a witness to horrors that she couldn't begin to fathom, let alone pry and ask about. He was a veteran to a war that she or anyone who didn't wear the armor and fight in the castle would never fully grasp.

" _Buenas noches, Cabeza Hueca._ " She said quietly, slowly stepping into his space and placing a small kiss on the side of his head. She hadn't called him that nickname in ages, but it still garnered the same eye roll.  
" _Buenas noches, Enana._ " He returned the gesture, hugging her as he bid her goodnight.  
This kind of exchange was common in the McClain household, delivering a kiss to everyone before they went to bed. Just because it wasn't their house didn't mean they couldn't do it or that it meant less.  
She could have sworn that he sighed in relief as the door slid shut between them, leaving her standing alone in the dark hallway.

There would be a time for questions and answers. But not tonight. 

Marisol walked back to her room alone, the day catching up to her as she trudged along. Pod sleep was not actual sleep, just unconsciousness for an extended period of time, so her body was running on fumes now, aching for a comfortable horizontal surface.  
She was about to open the door, but her hand paused before the blue panel.  
Going back in there meant that she would have to change, which meant seeing those damn scars again, which meant reliving the shocks, reliving the guilt...  
She could have probably just looked away and ignored them, but every time someone mentions anything about that fight, her whole body aches and the smallest voice in the back of her mind whispered awful things about how she deserved the scars, how they needed to remind her about what she had to lose.

It was dumb she knew it, but her hand wouldn't budge from where it hovered, trembling with the effort to just move.

"Damn it." She muttered, pulling down her sleeves and continuing walking down the hall. She walked past all of the visitor's rooms, hearing soft voices through one of the doors, instantly recognizing the laughter of Colleen. Her and Sam had so much to catch up on, probably spending as much time as they could awake.  
Her chest ached again, but this time for a different reason. She wished she had someone, the way that Colleen had Sam, somebody to confide in. Sure, she had Lance here now, but after everything he had been through, she didn't want to load her burdens onto him when he hadn't even processed his own trauma. Plus he needed to sleep more than she did. 

She ended up at a dead end in one of the hallways, a panel opening the door to an observatory that she had never visited before. Pidge always raved about the view, but the sight still took her breath away. She gaped as she quietly walked in, the giant windows that displayed hundreds of thousands stars to their full glory, burning brightly in shades of whites, yellows, and blues. It made the sight from Earth seem dim and far. 

She was too enticed looking at the stars that she didn't notice that the door reopened. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, immediately grabbing their wrist and twisting their arm, seeing red on the corners of her vision. 

"Ow ow ow!" Matt's pained voice broke her stupor.  
Marisol immediately let go, covering her mouth in horror.  
"Matt! I'm so sorry!" She whisper-shouted at him, drawing her hands close to her body to prevent touching him anymore.  
"It's fine, it's fine. Just remind me to never sneak up behind you again." He cradled his hand to his chest, a easy grin spreading across his face. "Those reflexes are something to be envied though."  
"Christ, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have... I should have just turned around like any normal human would." She covered her face with her hands as if it would undo what she had done.  
"You and I don't really count as normal anymore." He corrected her gently, noticing how her face screwed up in embarrassment. "Hey, it's okay. See," he held up his hands twisting them around when she looked up at him. "No damage done. You should have seen the first time I snuck up on Shiro, I honestly thought he was going to behead me with his arm."  
She sighed quietly, feeling guilty. 

"Is everything alright?" Matt asked with a tilt of his head that should not have been as endearing as it was (Goddamn it puppy love).  
"Yeah! Fine." She answered a little too enthusiastically. "I was just taking a walk. What about you? You went to bed a long time ago." She threw the ball into his court.  
"I had a nightmare." He sat down on the steps leading down to the viewing platform. "Needed to stretch my legs and get out of my head or else I would have gone crazy with all of the thoughts running around."  
"What about?" She didn't mean to pry, but he was being so open about what he was feeling that she would have felt bad for glossing over it. She eased herself to sit besides him, almost surprise when her leg didn't hurt. 

"My time in the Galra work camps. Seeing dad again in the prison rags kinda triggered me, I guess. They are quite relentless to the prisoners." He looked at his hands, Marisol looked at her feet, gently scuffing them against the floor.  
"I can't even imagine." She honestly couldn't, what kind of pain or torture he was put through during his year of capture. She had overheard a story about when Shiro was a prisoner, but he was on the main fleet, forced to fight in death matches for Galra entertainment. If watching the prisoners kill each other was for fun, she couldn't even begin to understand what they did to others that were not strong enough. 

"But enough about my angst-filled life, what about you?" He asked, leaning back on his hands stretched out behind him to look at her.  
"What about me?"  
"I dunno, wanna share secrets and stupid stories until the bad memories go away?"  
She looked away again. "Don't ever tell Coran I said this, but the Castle isn't all that exciting. I saw you standing outside your door for a solid two minutes before coming here." She wrinkled her nose ready to shoot down his accusation, but he met her with a steady gaze. Couldn't bullshit anything past him.  
"Alright then, Mr Know-It-All, why don't you go first." She did what she did best, hiding her pain behind humor and sarcasm. She wasn't as open as Matt was with her feelings, Lance and her mom were the only people she truly trusted with that sensitive information. But maybe she could make an exception. 

She listened to stories about his misadventures at the Garrison, sneaking out into town with Shiro and trying to buy alcohol underage. She covered up a small laugh with a cough at a story about teaching Pidge about the birds and the bees with electric sockets and a handful of wires. 

"I knew I could get you to laugh." He poked her side.  
"I didn't laugh." She covered up, trying to stop herself from blushing, why was she blushing in the first place?  
"Yes, you did, admit it. I'm wooing you with my wonderful storytelling." He wiggles his eyebrows.  
"Yeah, you're a charming _burro_." She snorted, pushing his arm. He laughed as he settled back, his hand coming to rest on top of hers. For a moment, she didn't mind his presence, but then she remembered the raised scarring on her arms reached down to her fingers. 

"I don't mind." He said quietly.  
"Mind what?" She played dumb, trying to think of a way to take her hand back without being rude.  
"I saw them when you reached across the table for some food, your sleeve lifted up slightly. There's no need to be ashamed of them." He told her earnestly. "I've got plenty too."  
She looked down at the scars on the back of her hands. He couldn't have seen them unless he had been paying close attention to her. She sighed defeatedly, looking down at her feet again.  
"I know it's dumb, but every time I see them, I'm right back in the fight. I still feel it when I think about it, hell I accidentally shocked Hunk and I wanted to run away screaming."  
"It's not dumb, it's PTSD. It happens to the best of us." Matt gently took his hand away, hesitantly wrapping it around her shoulders, pulling her closer when she didn't fight back. "One time Pidge dropped a spoon and I ducked under the table, I refused to come out for an hour. Even Shiro, who seems to have everything under control, has had panic attacks about accidentally hurting people. It sucks, but we find a way to deal with it. You'll find your way."

"How?" Her voice was almost too quiet to be heard.  
"Well, Shiro either spends time with his Lion, their bond is soothing, or training on the deck. I usually talk about it with someone that I trust. Everybody has a different coping mechanism, you'll find one that works for you." Marisol felt a smile build, thinking back to when he talked to her about his nightmare earlier. She didn't know that he trusted her with sensitive information. 

"If you feel like talking about it is easier, My door is always open to you. I will never judge or put you down for what you went through."  
"Thank you."  
"You're most certainly welcome. I'd do anything for you." It was his turn to blush, apparently not meaning to say that last part aloud. 

"Who's wooing who now?"  
"Shut up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish Notes:  
> Cabeza hueca- Hollow Head  
> Enana- Shorter girl  
> Burro- Donkey or stubborn person


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After so long, they finally get to go home :,)
> 
> Some of you may have noticed that this has become a part of a series! I am currently finishing writing the sequel now, and hooo boy, there is a road full of angst and tragedy ahead...Prepare yourselves...
> 
> Thank you so much for all of the support so far, I really appreciate all of the comments (even though I don't reply, but THAT WILL CHANGE) and kudos. I hope you enjoy these last two chapters!

***

Days passed, not a hair or hide of any Galra fleets or distress signals. It was almost as if they had won the war. The Paladins were able to form Voltron once more, everybody glad that they were back in their own Lions so the Castle took their time off to rejuvenate and rebuild. For the first time in a very long time, they rested up and were able to unwind fully. They spent their days watching Altean movies that Coran insisted were better than any Earth film, (they were mediocre at best), and swimming in the pool (Marisol excused herself by claiming she was on her period, not wanting to show off her scars quite yet). Lance and her spent time together, catching him up on all of the happenings on Earth while they had facials that left her face tingly and clean. Matt even asked to join them, although it might have just to catch up on the gossip and eat the space equivalent of cucumbers. 

But sooner or later, reality was going to catch up to them. The Galra were not gone for good, and they still had a war to win.  
It was decided to return the Holts and Marisol back home. Having them on the Castle was too risky, especially since Lotor knew who was who's family now and could hold that as leverage. Marisol needed to return home to her family. They had lost so much already, no need to lose a second child to mysterious circumstances.  
After many long discussions, a couple arguments from Pidge with her family ("No! I just got you back! I worked too damn hard for you to just walk away!" She yelled when the idea had been brought up the first time), but eventually it was agreed that it was the best course of action. Earth needed the three of them, but the Universe still needed saving.  
A pod was set for Earth, a letter from Hunk for his family to explain himself in Marisol's bag, and enough food and water to last them several months (though Allura assured them it wouldn't take longer than a day), they were ready to go. The castle flew as close as possible to the Milky Way as possible, still far enough away that the nearest Galra ships in this part of the universe would not be alerted.

The castle occupants had gathered in the pod hangar to say their goodbyes to their Earth bound friends. Colleen hugged her husband tightly, both of them whispering reassurances to each other. Sam was not accompanying them home, having valuable information on the technology the Galra was starting to build and locations of planets still full of prisoners, he decided that he would stay behind, sent to a planet of genius engineers call Olkarion, according to Lance, he was going to fit right in with them and be safe from any Galra attacks. It broke Colleen's heart, but just as it was agreed on, their place was back on Earth. Matt took his father's place with a bit of reluctance at first, still a part of the Rebels, but he eventually downloaded all of his files and hardware he had collected since his rescue onto Pidge's laptop.

Pidge was hugging Matt tightly, trying to hold back tears as she pushed a small electronic device into his hand.  
"It's a long range communicator, I calibrated it so that no matter where we are in the universe, we'll be able to reach you." She explained.  
“Aw, you’re gonna miss me Pidgey!” Matt cooed as he picked her up in a hug, ignoring her screeching protests. 

Marisol chuckled as she stood next to her brother, not wanting to say goodbye just yet. It was true that they had just reunited and that she shouldn't have to part so soon, but what she wanted isn't always what she got.  
"So, do you want to make this a tearful goodbye?" Lance asked. "Because I'm excellent at crying on command."  
"Growing up with you, I know that first hand. I've cried too much the past few weeks. How about a hearty see-you-later hug?" She offered.  
"Works for me." He shrugged nonchalantly and pulled her into an embrace. Despite the casualness of their attitudes, Marisol could feel Lance trembling slightly under her arms, picking her off of the ground slightly. It made her feel safe, tucking her head into his shoulder.  
Neither one of them let go for a while, not wanting to end the last hug for who knew how long.

"Promise you'll try be safe? No more getting stuck in tractor beams?" She asked quietly.  
"Always." He patted her back, gently setting her back on her feet.  
"You'd better, because if you don't come home, I will hunt you down again and I will kick your ass." She swore as he let her go.  
He chuckled, eyes slightly glassy. She patted his face, pressing a small kiss to his cheek.  
She kissed everybody's cheek, (except Keith, but she settled for a fist bump with him). It was how they said goodbye in her family, and hell, after what they had been though, she could consider them part of her family. Coran and Allura were most touched and excited by the gesture, Hunk smiled fondly at her, Pidge pretended to be disgusted, and she could have sworn she saw Shiro blush. She laughed to herself, slightly proud of flustering the leader as she boarded the pod. 

"Do I get a kiss too?" Matt joked with her from the pilot's seat.  
"You're getting nothing from me." She teased, looking out the window at the team as the pod door appeared out of thin air and closed over them.  
Lance waved frantically at her, tears visible even as they rose in the air. She returned the wave, feeling her heart hurt as they took off at an alarming speed, the Castle growing smaller and smaller. 

"We'll see them soon." Colleen promised, voice wavering slightly as they flew. Marisol took her hand in hers, nodding slowly. For the first time in a long time, she actually believed that they'd see them again.  
If not, well, Colleen and her knew exactly what to do to get back.

***

The trip took almost no time at all. Marisol was only just starting to get antsy when they entered Earth's atmosphere. Colleen pressed a cloaking button. The last thing that they wanted was the Galaxy Garrison all over their asses when they landed, probably shipping them off to Area 51 and never seen again before they could even explain what happened, if her and Colleen weren't recognized and arrested on sight. Coran told them that it would land in a peaceful part of the USA, and then be sent back into space all with a push of a button.  
The spacecraft landed softly, sand flying up with their descent. Matt scrambled out of the pod the moment it touched the ground, barely shutting the pod down and opening the hatch before flinging himself to the dusty ground. 

"I'm home!" His voice was full of raw emotions, grasping handfuls of sand and rocks and letting it slide between his fingers as if they were the most wonderful thing to exist. He cried, his sobs echoing off of the canyon walls.  
Colleen and Marisol climbed out more slowly, but no less glad to be back. They unloaded their gear while Matt reoriented himself. With great reluctance, sent the pod back into space. All three of them watched it take off, slowly shrinking to a small dot in the sky until they couldn't see it against the bright blue sky anymore. They pulled their bags on their backs, looking around to see where they were. 

"Marisol, look!" Colleen pointed. Marisol squinted, looking at the outcropping of rocks that looked vaguely familiar.  
"Did we..."  
"Land back at the car. Yes. Yes we did." Colleen laughed.  
"I did promise that we'd come back for it." Marisol laughed too, feeling some of the ache in her chest lift.

Apparently there was a big sandstorm while they were gone, the engine had clogged with dirt and small rocks rendering it almost useless. It took several hours of Matt, Colleen and her trying to bring the car to life, the sun had almost set when it coughed and sputtered back to life. They had to stop at the shack again for the rest of their things, Marisol stayed by the car while the Holts gathered their things without too much protest, a phantom pain of what had happened last time shooting up her leg.  
The drive home was much, much longer than their flight down to Earth. They were all so used to space travel that even flying down the highway at 80mph felt like a snail pace. They also didn't have any money left over, having to pawn off some of Colleen's technology and most of Marisol's belongings just to get money for gas. 

It was early February, although they had been gone for three months, they were surprised at how soon they were back. Marisol had never said an exact date of her return from her "study abroad", but it was assumed that she would be gone for a while. Maybe it was a selfish of her, but she didn't want this trip to end. She didn't want to go back to textbooks and studying and aquarium life just yet, not after experiencing what she had. Life seemed more boring now, safer and mundane compared to her adventures, and she couldn't even share it with anyone outside of their car. Plus the friendship she had foraged with Colleen and Matt was much stronger than any that she had made at college, she didn't want to say goodbye so soon.

They were waiting for Matt outside of a gas station, huddled together in the warm car while he paid for gas when she approached Colleen about the topic.  
"Could I stay with you guys? J-Just until exams are done, then I'll be off to Florida." She asked, almost expecting a firm but gentle reminder of the responsibility that she had to her family and school.  
"Of course you may!" She said excitedly. "I crashed at your place for three months, you can crash at mine for as long as you need. Your family isn't expecting you home for another two months anyways." Surprised, but no less grateful, Marisol hugged Colleen tightly, breathing a soft thank you to her as Matt climbed into the car. 

So instead of driving to a wet but warm Florida climate, they took a turn and headed north. Marisol's eyes widened when she saw snow flurries start to fall as they were leaving Arkansas. The further they went, the more it there was. There was hardly ever snow where she lived, if anything a light dusting that was gone within a day. She was like a little kid, making snow angels in the powder when they stopped for a bathroom break, carving little pictures into frosted windows, even Marisol and Matt got into a snowball fight at a rest stop when Colleen needed to buy coffee. Needless to say that by the time Colleen arrived, they were soaked and chilled to the bone, but laughing hard enough to make their stomachs hurt. 

They finally stopped in northern Virginia, in a busy town where Colleen had grown up before shipping off to the Galaxy Garrison. It was too risky to go back to their actual hometown, risk Matt getting recognized, so they drove to her parent's house. Her parents were in Italy for the time being, they wouldn't be back until next Thanksgiving, letting their only daughter keep their US house to help her "grieving process“. She wouldn't even have to worry about the bills or anything since they had hired people to take care of that.  
"It's not lying, I'm still missing my husband and my daughter." She said when she hung up the phone. "Plus nobody here remembers me or knows Matt." 

Colleen’s family had a nice stately home on a quiet suburb street. It had plenty of room for the three of them. Colleen took the Master Suite on the main floor while her and Matt took rooms on the second floor. The room smelled of mothballs and dust, but it's bed was more comfortable than sleeping in a car. She slept soundly for the first time since leaving the castle.

***

Marisol decided to take online classes through her college, not wanting to fall behind on her studies. By some stroke of luck, they had most of the classes she needed to take available, even with the deadline approaching. She barely got in before they closed registration. It was different than taking the regular classes, but they would count towards her degree, so she wouldn't complain.  
Matt decided to work to help keep himself busy. He found a job in the grocery store down the road as a stock room attendant. They didn't even look too hard at the information that he and his mother had quickly fabricated, Matt claimed it was because they were desperate for help. It wasn't much in the terms of cash or what he wanted to do, but it wasn't permanent, just until he got settled back into life on Earth again.  
Colleen took up her old job of creating websites that she could do from home. Between them, they had enough to help Marisol pay for her classes, despite her wanting to work too. ("You focus on your studies, let us do the rest." Colleen assured her). 

Marisol kept in contact with her family, talking with them late night about her "traveling". She lied about her absence, claiming that her phone broke. Surprisingly, her family didn't push it too much, asking her to send photos and tell them about what she was doing. She made up some wild stories about helping the endangered species on the island and other misadventures she had gotten into, including a story about getting stuck in a electrical shock to explain the horrible marks on her body. They were outraged that she was hurt, but Marisol reassured them that the school was going to pay for her next semester and all hospital expenses. It was draining on her, lying constantly to her family, but to explain what she had been really doing was even more disastrous. 

One evening, she was sitting at the dining room table, shutting her laptop down after another day of fibbing. She sent photos that she and Colleen had photoshopped, it looked legit enough that her mother and sister were oohing about her with baby sea turtles, which made her feel even worse. She buried her head in her arms, resisting the urge to scream in frustration. It didn't help that midterms were right around the corner and the weather had been dark and gloomy, just like her attitude.

"Ding dong." Matt's voice filled the space as he settled down at the table across from her.  
"Hey." She grunted, not bothering to raise her head.  
"How was your day?" His tone was teasing, but it rubbed her nerves like a grater.  
"Another day of lying to my family, that's all." She sighed, looking up with an irritated look on her face. 

"You okay?" He asked gently, pulling out a chair to sit in.  
"Fine! According to my family, I'm having the time of my life rescuing sea turtles and shit, but I'm living in a lie, surrounded by six feet of snow and stressed over my stupid journalism class and a group project in which I am doing EVERYTHING.”  
Matt tilted his head with a small frown.  
"Are you not happy here? With us? I thought that's what you wanted, right?"  
“I know! It is, I swear!" She said hurriedly, knowing it probably sounded ungrateful to him. "Jesus. I'm sorry, it’s…been a long few days." She groaned and returned to the folded position from earlier. It was a horrible reason, but it was all she had.  
"Well then, I supposed you wouldn't want this then." He pulled out a plastic grocery bag, setting it on the table with a quiet thunk. Marisol recognized the sound of glass hitting the wooden table, looking up curiously. 

"Matt, you know I don't drink beer..." She trailed off, looking suspiciously at the bag.  
"I know, I know. But do you remember that fizzy drink we had in Texas that neither one of us could get enough of?"  
"You mean that sparkling cider stuff?" She asked. Instead of responding, he pulled back the plastic, revealing a bottle of fizzing brown liquid. Marisol's spirits lifted almost immediately. 

"Happy Birthday Mari." He said, pulling out two wine glasses. She clapped her hands excitedly as he popped it open.  
"How did you know?" She didn't recall telling him about it, too stressed about the dumb midterms to even want to celebrate in any way.  
"Mom, she changed the year but not the rest of the date for your birth certificate to get a new ID. Plus I talked to Lance, he wants to call you for your birthday."  
"Where is Colleen?" She asked as she took the glass, looking around for her friend.  
"Mom said she was going to meet some childhood friends for a drink, it sounded like she wasn't going to be back until late. She said that we could get a cake or something this weekend after your exams."" 

"So she'll never know if we had it without her."  
"I have four more bottles in the kitchen. Plus the store just stocked up on it, so I can buy even more." He shrugged.  
"Well then, to fizzy drinks." They tapped glasses together before taking a long sip. It was just as light and bubbly as it had been the last time. There was a slight bitter taste at the end, letting them know there was alcohol in it, but not enough to ruin the taste. It became a silent drinking contest to see who could finish first. Marisol won, but only because Matt choked when she threw a wink at him. She chuckled when Matt had a foam-stache from his drink, sheepishly wiping it away and offering her the bottle to refill.

They ended up drinking way too much, nearly finishing the entirety of two bottles by the end of the night. The two of them had moved to the living room couch, comfortably leaning against each other and drinking to their hearts content. She wasn't quite drunk yet, just buzzed enough to get a warm feeling in her belly, or maybe it was just being so close to the eldest Holt sibling.  
"Truth or dare." Matt proposed to play this game after finishing the first bottle, claiming it was more fun while buzzed. So far he was correct.  
"Truth." Marisol said after a moment.  
"What is your preferred way to die?"  
"Morbid much?" She snorted.  
"Just curious."  
"Well," she let the question roll over her for a moment, taking a sip of her drink. "I'd like to go when I'm in my late 90's, surrounded by my loved ones, to go peacefully in my sleep."  
"Why do you want your loved ones there?" Matt asked. "Wouldn't it be sad for them?"  
"Well yeah, death is awful for everyone, but knowing that I lived a full life with people that I love is how I want to spend my last moments on this Earth." 

"Wow." He said softly, letting that sit with him for a minute. "I want to go fighting a shark."  
"Why?" She giggled, "What did sharks ever do to you?"  
"Nothing, I just think it's a badass way to go. It's not too sad, because when people think of you, they think _'what the hell was he fighting a shark for?'_ "  
"But then the shark would be hunted down and sold for it's fins. The shark populations are already being affected by fishing industries, they could go extinct in our lifetime." She argued, slurring a bit over the statistic.  
"Okay then, I'll fight a bear."  
"You're dumb." She laughed, sliding down the leather couch slightly. "Why do you want to fight everything?"  
"Because I'm a man, pent up with testosterone and it makes me want to do dumb things." He smiled lopsidedly at her. 

She let her forehead butt his shoulder, still giggling.  
After a minute of him being quiet, she looked up, letting her chin rest on his shoulder.  
"You're the prettiest girl in this room." He admitted suddenly, cheeks filling with color.  
"I'm the only girl in this room." Apparently being tipsy made her a better flirt, not even stumbling over her words.  
"Alright then, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And I've been to space."

"So have I, Mr Wise Guy." She smiled.  
"Yeah, but I've been out further than you.”  
Was it just her, or was he getting closer to her?  
"I've seen supernovas, meteor showers of a thousand different colors, planets with the most scenic views in the entire galaxy, and still I have never seen anything as gorgeous as you." 

Blinking a couple times, she couldn't think of anything that could top what he just said, so she decided to make a better use of her mouth. She leaned forward, just brushing her lips against his timidly. He immediately responded by closing the gap, gently wrapping his arms around her waist, her hands raising to gently cradle his face, running her thumb across the scar across his cheek. It was a bit sloppy, both of them under the influence of alcohol and still unsure of the other, but they found a tender rhythm quite easily. He claimed to see supernovas in space, but Marisol felt as if she were inside of one. Kissing him was both the easiest thing and the scariest thing in the world. Like diving into an ocean without seeing what is lurking. Like falling out of control, but not afraid of what met her at the end.

It ended just as softly as it began, leaning foreheads against one another, sharing the same air as they caught up with the world around them.  
"Was that...was that your first?" Marisol asked quietly.  
"Pfft, no. I've kissed plenty of girls, like more than I can count. I'm such a ladies man. I’m blaming the cider." He stumbled over his words.  
"It's okay, that was my first too." She admitted.  
"Oh, thank God." They both laughed. 

"In all honesty, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And I also have been to space." She kissed the tip of his nose.  
"I've wanted to tell you that since you pinned me down the first time, probably before that too." He told her as she pulled away to take a drink of water.  
She remember back on it, she had probably been too busy doing some celebratory dance over winning for the first time to have even noticed.  
"Huh, what was stopping you?"  
"I-uh, I thought Shiro liked you." He admitted, quickly taking a drink of water to cover his flustered face. "And I thought you liked him back." 

She chuckled, kissing his cheek this time, speaking to his cheekbones. "I admit, I did think Shiro was attractive at first, you'd have to be blind to not be enticed, but he's just a friend. How about we stop talking about Shiro and get back to our game?" Marisol suggested with another kiss, over the scar under his cheekbone.  
"Fine by me." He almost wheezed, pulling away long enough to take another drink of water, nearly draining the whole glass.

"Truth or Dare?"  
"Dare." He said quickly, hiccuping slightly.  
"I dare you to kiss me again." She grinned wolfishly.  
"God, I was hoping you were going to say that." He leaned forward, this time with more fervor than before.  
She squeaked at his intensity, barely able to set her glass down again before he pulled her to sit in his lap, exploring her mouth. She responded back with the same amount of effort, threading her fingers through his hair. They ended up with Matt on the sofa and Marisol above him, gently exploring his face and neck with lips and teeth, barely keeping up with each other.

Neither of the two lovebirds noticed that Colleen had entered the house, slightly taken aback slightly by the scene in front of her.  
After recovering from seeing her son make out with her friend, she chuckled, setting her purse down and picking up the communicator. It was about time those two got together, she mused as she walked into her room, closing the door to give them privacy.  



	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end...Or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Me before S6* Wow, I really underestimated Lotor. He seems like a genuine dude and I shouldn't have judged lol whoops  
> *Me after S6* You lil shit...
> 
> ANYWAYS! Welcome to the end of the fic! This is a pretty big deal, since I'm the kind of person to abandon works bc I don't like how they turn out, so yay me!  
> And Thank You to all of the people who liked and commented (especially to users @RustyEyron, @lamamoose, @BlueSkyHeadLeft010, @Pendragon451, @metayoz50k, and @Addison for your continual support).  
> The first chapter of The Universe Beyond should be out soon, maybe as soon as tonight/tomorrow. Stay tuned for more drama, angst, fluff and more!

***

_One Year Later_

Miami was the place to be in the summertime. It was full of life at all hours of the day, gorgeous weather that had people flocking to the beaches almost daily, and streets were flooded with tourists and locals alike. It was always busy in Miami, especially in Little Havana. It reminded Marisol of Cuba, a home away from home as her papa had said when they first moved. Her family lived in this section of Miami, despite the stigma against it, she loved her hometown and her neighbors and they were quite friendly towards her. 

Marisol drummed her fingers against the side of the car, waiting for Matt to finish filling the gas tank, picking at the nail polish that was already chipping away. She didn't quite understand why she was so nervous; the sky was clear, everyone she kew was happy and healthy. Matt had met her family before and they absolutely loved him, (then again, it was hard not to love the adorable man child). Maybe it was because this time was different, because they weren't just dating anymore. She stopped her jittery fingers to look at the gold band that rested on her left hand, watching the single diamond throw dozens of fragments of lights from the sunlight around her. It wasn't much, her Tias would be disappointed that she didn't get a big and fancy ring like they had, but she loved it almost as much as she loved her fiancé. 

He was corny about the whole proposal too, getting her work involved.  
Despite initially hating her aquarium internship during the summer of her junior year, she was offered a higher position for her internship. Instead of cleaning up after children who couldn't follow the rules, she was now giving live presentations about the different animals of the sea and promoting environmental issues to tourists. She wasn't on the microphone, her shaky hands and wavery voice not very pleasant to hear, but rather training the dolphins, whales, otters, and penguins that were in the show and help they rehabilitate from whatever trauma they had endured.  
She was good at her job, and it was quite therapeutic, being able to understand her own struggles though the animals.

One day before a performance, she was helping out another trainer give a shot to a sick penguin. It was not usually a part of her job, but her coworker insisted on her helping. She felt a nudge against her leg. She glanced over to see another penguin looking up at her, a red ribbon tied neatly around its neck. She scowled slightly, wondering who had wrapped it around the poor penguin's neck, she undid the ribbon. The penguin didn't seemed bothered by it, chirping lightly as she rubbed its feathers. As it fell away, something small and circular fell to the ground, a wet piece of paper tied with string. Marisol picked it up, squinting to read the faded handwriting. 

**'MARRY ME?'**

She looked at the circular thing attached, realizing that it was a ring. Marisol turned around, slightly perplexed. Her coworker squealed with delight, pointing up in the stands and trying not to bounce up and down with excitement.  
Marisol looked, seeing a light haired figure standing there, dressed to the nines with a large bouquet of her favorite flowers. Even from a distance she could see how much he was sweating.  
She shook her head, a smile growing on her face as she realized exactly what was happening. 

"Sorry Matt." She called, trying to keep calm. “I’m afraid Skipper beat you to the proposal."  
"You're dumping me for a penguin?" He asked mocking offense, smiling widely.  
"What can I say, he's adorable. Who wouldn't want to marry him?"  
He started to descend the stairs, still looking nervous.

"But I guess since I'm not into penguins, you'll have to do." She tried not to sound too choked up, still in shock at this series of events, hurrying to meet him halfway.  
He didn't seem to care that she was still in her soaked wetsuit, completely not ready to be proposed to, but he still swept her up in his arms, spinning her around with a barking laugh. 

"You're serious?"  
"Deadly." She said as she fitted the ring on her hand, her coworker's cheers a distant sound as she kissed her fiancé. 

The car door opening broke her out of her revere, looking up as Matt dropped a bottle of wine in the back seat.  
"I can't show up empty handed." He said when she gave him a look. Gas station wine was definitely not the highest caliber, but her family would appreciate the gesture. 

He started the car and they started off down the road, holding her hand in his as she started to speak.  
"When you come into the house, be sure to take off your shoes. My papa probably spent the whole day cleaning and wants it to last as long as possible. Also if you try to speak Spanish to my Grandparents, be sure to use the formal terms and conjugations I taught you. Also don't mention where you got your degree from, my parents would understand but the rest of my family would be furious and start talking about how much they hate the Galaxy Garrison and I don't want there to be fighting today, and whatever you do, don’t accept an arm wrestling challenge from my Tio…”  
"Mari, breathe." Matt reminded her, grasping her hand in his free one. "No need to worry, the hardest part is over. Your parents love me, and so will the rest of your family."  
"I know." She said softly as they pulled up to a red light. "But this is the first time seeing my entire family since the wake. I’m nervous about slipping up.”  
Matt nodded solemnly, holding her hand in his a bit tighter in understanding. 

It was still hard to lie to her family, even after years of perfecting the perfect cover story. The famed Galapagos trip or the “freak lightning strike” didn't bother her as much as lying about Lance’s wellbeing. He was still in space today fighting the Galra. Zarkon and his witch had been defeated over a year ago and they were slowly dismantling the rest of the empire, no sign of the Prince still.  
Knowing that he brother was alive and well, able to call him and talk to him on a whim while her family thought otherwise bothered her more than she cared to admit. She didn’t want to tell her brother, it would only throw the unneeded guilt and stress on him, but it was eating away at her. Luckily Matt had become rather good of seeing through her faked smiles and she know that she could trust him with those feelings.  
“Why don’t you want me to arm wrestle your uncle? I’m pretty strong.” He kissed her hand as the stoplight changed. 

“Tio Emmanuel was a semi-pro wrestler. He could turn your scrawny ass into a pretzel with one hand.” She bat at his hand.  
“Well then, maybe you’re right. I'll just blow him away with my charm, just like the rest of your family.” He chuckled, still holding onto her hand as they drove on. He was the kind of guy that could ease her worries and change her mood with a simple joke, one of the millions of reasons she had fallen so hard for this man. How had she gotten so lucky?

With her free hand, she tugged the bottom of her dress down. Ever since the near-death experience, she had hidden more and more skin to cover the scars. No matter how much make-up she applied or what kinds of creams she used, the scarring was still as prominent as the day it had happened. Even in the horrible heat that was the south, she still wore nothing under 3/4th length sleeves and or jeans. Even now, she was wearing a deep blue dress that covered her arms and thin stockings on her legs, a big necklace to hide the worst of the scars along her chest. Her long hair hid the darkest scars along her back, her most self conscious area of the disfigurement.  
Matt didn’t quite understand why she was so worried about the scarring, but part of it was just a difference in gender. Scars on boys seemed more natural while it was tabooed for a girl to be as marked up as she was. She couldn’t make him understand the discomfort she felt when she looked in the mirror and he couldn’t make her love the scars because they were apart of her— but that didn’t stop him from showing her body, scars and all, special attention when they were in the mood. 

They continued to drive, breathing in the salty air and letting some techno-pop song fill the silence. Matt held onto her hand, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. They were the last guests to arrive at the house, per her Mama request. She wanted all of her relatives to greet them as an engaged couple. There wasn't any room in the driveway, having to park down the road a ways. 

"Ready?" She asked as Matt helped her stand out of the car.  
"Always." He sent her a dashing smile, one that still made her stomach erupt with nervous butterflies and her knees weak. He wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked up the porch, music and conversation carrying out through the screen doors. The moment the door opened, cheers and cries of joy greeted them, the entire McClain family turning away from previous conversations to welcome the newly engaged couple.  
Marisol felt some of the anxiety wash away when she saw her family, embracing her with loud exclamations of how she was glowing and demanding to see the ring. Matt was hustled away by her Titis, asking him to tell every juicy detail of their relationship. He tried to look to her for help, but Marisol shrugged, leaving him to fend for himself while her younger cousins and niece and nephew ran around her legs. 

Once she had extracted them from her, Marisol looked across the room to see her Mother helping her Papa and Abuela with the _empadas_. Mama McClain had a few more grey hairs and hard lines than most ladies her age, but she embraced the changes gracefully, even if some of it had come from stress and grief. Her Mama looked up, whispering to her helpers before walking across the room, embraced Marisol tightly, carefully running a hand up and down her back. 

_"Estoy muy orgulloso de ti, Mari."_ Her mama whispered. Her mama knew both Spanish and English, but in an immediate family setting, she usually opted for speaking her native tongue.  
_"Gracias Mamá."_ She said as her mother kissed her cheek.  
_"Ojalá Lance estuviera aquí."_ Her blue eyes that resembled her lost son shone, only a few moments into the party and she was on the verge of tears. The image of the communicator flashed before her, the power to erase the years of grief right outside in their car.  
_"Lo sé."_ Marisol nodded sadly. It would have done more harm than good, she kept telling herself as she swallowed back the urge. _"Nos está mirando desde el cielo."_

Her mama nodded, wiping her eyes. "You've been here two minutes and I'm already crying. Never mind now, where is your fiancé?"  
"Mamá..." Marisol said, rolling her eyes. “If you want to embarrass me, you can do it when I am not there."  
"Ah, but where is the fun with that?" A small smile came over her face, walking across the room to where her fiancé sat in his story telling mode, probably giving some wild story about how he got the scar across his face. 

Marisol hugged her Papa and Abuela, chatting with them about small things, taking a glass of wine from her Papa. She slowly made her way around the room, greeting relatives and making small talk about her job and the few wedding plans that her and Matt had made. By the time she had made her way over to Matt, she was getting kind of tired of talking and was out of wine. Matt kissed her cheek as she sat down on the couch, offering her his untouched glass. He continued his story to her little cousins and her niece and nephew about sometime with Pidge when she was their age. He spoke in fragmented pieces of Spanish, asking her to translate when he didn't explain something properly.  
The kids didn't care, they loved to hear him talk.  
She was just about to stand up, to gather everyone's attention and thank them for coming out to celebrate their engagement when there was a loud rapt on the door. Marisol's father opened the screen door, one of her younger neighbor kids panting in the door frame. 

_"¿Estás bien?"_ He asked the small boy, a hush falling over her family as they regarded his face. He looked torn between being terrified and being excited.  
_"¡Las noticias! ¡Mira las noticias!"_ He said between heaving breaths. 

One of Marisol's tios, who had been watching the baseball game turned the channel, a breaking news story just beginning.  
_"¡Déle vuelta encima!"_ One of her partially deaf tias asked. 

A woman's voice came over the screen, closed captions in Spanish for her elders to understand.  
"We are coming to you live from the United Nations, where all of the world has turned their eyes to the skies. Reports first came in around noon eastern standard time from Galaxy Garrison of a unidentified space craft entering Earth's orbit. As of right now, it has entered the atmosphere, but we have not been able to get a glimpse of this spacecraft. Leaders from around the world have gathered in an emergency meeting to decide what to do about these newcomers. One thing is clear, we are not alone in our universe anymore."  
Marisol's family spat when the Galaxy Garrison was mentioned and turned away from the news, but Marisol couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen as scientists and astrologist were interviewed about this phenomenon.  
Matt grabbed her hand in his sweaty one, just as invested in the story as she was. 

"Wait, we're getting reports just now from nearby satellites. We are getting our first visual on the craft." The screen shifted to a very blurry video of a dark object over the United Nations, but it was impossible to make it out against the shadow of the sun. "This is a historic moment for all of humanity, as we witness our first glimpse of life outside of our world." 

Marisol unconsciously stood, dropping Matt's hand and approaching the TV, careful to mind her little cousins. It almost looked like...  
That's when the whole ground shook. Marisol heard her family exclaim, in both Spanish and English, as the earth moved beneath their feet. Babies and children started crying, their parents consoling them, but Marisol was glued to the TV. 

The reporter was obviously shaken, but continued to give the news cast.  
"Um, it appears that the tremors that we felt just have been reported all over the world. We are still obtaining information from Galaxy Garrison, it appears as if there have been multiple space crafts that followed the first one and are in the atmosphere. We are getting our first clear visual on the craft as we speak..." The camera switched, showing a dark, massive ship hovering over the United Nations building. 

Her entire family looked back to the screen now, even as the picture started to become static. Her tio holding the remote tried to change the channel but it was cut out on all channels available. He stopped when a picture finally came through. Marisol felt her whole body seize up in terror as purple lights flashed over the screen.  
"No." Marisol saw a face that she knew all too well, one that had plagued her nightmares for the past year.

"Civilians of Earth, I am Emperor Lotor, Leader of the Galra Empire."  
_'No, Lance said his ship was destroyed, that no one survived?'_  
"We come to your primitive planet with very few demands and much more to offer. Though you are weak among many other civilizations across the universe, I have seen humans like you survive and thrive. You can provide much to us and we can for you." His grin was just as empty as it had been when she had seen it last. "Join our movement and you shall strive. Resist, and you will all perish." 

Marisol peeled her eyes away for a moment when he disappeared off screen to look at Matt. He looked ghostly pale, gripping her hand too tight.  
"Mari, _cariño_ , you should sit, you don't look well." One of her Tias gently grasped her arm, looking worriedly at the both of them. 

"This can't be happening." Marisol gasped as the new reporter was trying to relay all of this new information, anxiety showing through her well-practiced face. Suddenly a shadow fell over the woman, she gasped and pointed for the cameraman to look upwards. The reel showed what was causing the shadow--a giant ship that covered the sun like an eclipse.  
"I'm getting reports that this is happening all over the world, this is actually quite terrifying being so close to it." The reporter said with a trembling voice. "Honestly, I am not sure of what to say, I'm sending it back to the studio." 

Just as another reporter came on the screen, much calmer than his previous, there was a dark shadow that covered the house.  
Marisol was out the door before anyone could react, still barefoot, shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. Standing on her lawn, she saw her neighbors had the same idea, pointing at the massive object hovering over the sky. Her hand flew to her mouth, taking in the Galra cruiser that was overhead.  
This couldn't be happening.  
Where was Voltron?  
Where was Lance?

Matt jolted her back to reality, grasping her arm.  
"Mari, we need to get everyone out of sight."  
"Right." She shoved her fear down, seeing how most of the neighborhood had come outside to ogle the spaceship. "I'll take care of the neighbors, get my family into the storm cellar. I'll try to call Pidge. You call your mother and make sure that she's safe."  
"Copy that." He raced back to the house, herding the curious little ones back inside, relaying her instructions. 

Marisol ran, ignoring the gravel that embedded into her feet or that her hair had lost its shape.  
"Everyone! Listen to me!" She shouted, climbing on to a curb where everyone could see her. "The Galra are coming and they will not have any mercy! Hide everyone in your basement or cellars, join others if you don't have one. Lock the door and don't let anyone or anything in!"  
There wasn't too much argument from the frightened humans, her neighbors seeing how close the ship was getting to their neighborhood, small streams of dots falling from the sky. 

It was a race against the clock, corralling everyone into some form of shelter. Maybe the thick concrete or their hurricane shelters would throw them off? They were sending down sentries instead of fighter planes, both a good and a bad sign. Good because they didn't want the planet and probably would not follow through with the threat, but bad because the robots could do more in depth searches and possibly find them.  
Once everyone had found a place to hide and the streets were barren, she bolted for their car. Matt always kept the communicator on hand, just in case he wanted to call in at any point, and she knew exactly where it was. 

She threw the door open, climbing into the front seat and lifting the middle compartment. The small white device was right on top, grabbing it and a long bō staff from the back seat. Matt and herself had enrolled in several Tai-Chi classes to keep their skills sharp, (the instructor was very impressed by their skills), and they always kept their staffs in the car to keep from forgetting them for class.  
She pressed the blue button on the communication device, but the button did not light up the way it usually did. She kept pressing it, praying that the battery wasn't dead, if it even ran on batteries. 

"C'mon!" She groaned. Was Lotor somehow blocking the signal?  
She didn't get much time to ponder, seeing the spaceship right overhead. It was close enough that she could see the hatch open, dozens of sentries falling from the sky and landing with a pavement shattering thud. They drew their guns, ready to fire on her. 

Swearing, she slammed the door shut behind her, the blasts bounding off of the metal, the door bending against the force. She kept trying to get the communications device to work, but it was futile. She crawled out the drivers side just as a blast shattered the window, glass rained down on her.  
She ducked out from behind the car, staff in hand, using the momentum to fling herself at the first opponent. They went down with a sharp blow to the head, sparking as it crumbled. She kept fighting off the robots, slowly making a dent in their forces. But her moves became sloppy and one of the robots managed to kick her into a mailbox, bending around her and knocking her to the ground. 

She went to stand to keep fighting, but three sentries trailed their guns on her.  
"Drop weapon and prepare for identification scan."  
She held out her arm, ready to drop it, but she faked them out, giving a swing to their heads. They fell over with sparks flying around her. 

The robots that she hadn't fought were checking houses for any life forms. Turns out they couldn't scan through concrete, completely passing over places that had people shoved in like sardines.  
A group of sentries were too close to her house for comfort, charging at them with a strangled yell. They turned to her and started firing. She dodged the blasts, taking out the first on a downward strike. She kept fighting back, keeping them away from her house, but each move was getting more sluggish than before, her adrenaline dying away. 

A direct hit to her wrist sent her staff flying away, grabbing her wrist on instinct. The sentries took this opportunity to grab her and hold her to the ground.  
"Hold for identification." It told her. It wasn't like she had much of a choice, but she squirmed in protest.  
"Fugitive 126-1584 identified."  
Shit, she was considered a fugitive? She even had a number to be identified by.  
"Prepare for contact with main fleet." Her eyes widened in fear, she was not going back there, at least not alive. She started to struggle more in their grasp, crying out for help.

Just as they were about to make contact, a shot rang out. Then three more. The sentries holding her fell, releasing her in the process. She looked up to see Matt, holding a gun from one of the fallen sentries, looking severely at the dead robots around her. 

"Marisol!" He yelled, rushing towards her once the coast was clear. She wrapped her arms around him, letting him lift her back to her feet.  
"I couldn't get a hold of the Castle, I think he's jamming our signal." She explained as he handed her fallen weapon back to her.  
"We need to get out of here."  
"But my family..." Marisol started to protest.  
"They're safe for now, but we're not. They have an ID for you and probably me too. They want any connection with Voltron, but your family knows nothing."  
Marisol opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it.  
"I promise we'll keep them safe. Right now, our priority is getting us off the grid and getting a hold of the Castle." 

Marisol sent one more gaze towards her house, where her entire family was hiding, probably huddled together and scared to death. As much as she wanted to stay with them, Matt was right. Being near them would put them in the line of fire, and she wasn't going to let the bastards take anything else from her.  
"Let's go."

They booked it to the car, leaving under the fire of sentries that were left, but the two of them were much faster, slamming their car doors and peeling out of her neighborhood. Looking out the rearview mirror was like looking at a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. More sentries had dropped in, finding families that hadn't hid and were hauling them to the streets, lining them up and separating entire families without any pity. 

Marisol couldn't help but wonder if this is what the end felt like.


End file.
